An interview with economist Bachmann: “It has to hurt if you don’t get vaccinated”

An interview with economist Bachmann
“Must hurt if you don’t get vaccinated”

From autumn, most of the unvaccinated will have to pay for corona tests. Economist Rüdiger Bachmann hopes that this will increase willingness to vaccinate. The federal government must set incentives – positive or negative, he says in an interview with ntv.de.

ntv.de: The free citizen tests expire in autumn. Then visiting homes for the elderly, hairdressers or restaurants will cost money for those who can get vaccinated but have not done so by then. The federal and state governments want to increase the vaccination rate. Do you think this is a good idea?

Rüdiger Bachmann: In principle, yes. For epidemiological reasons, we need a higher vaccination rate. One way is to increase the cost of non-vaccinated people. Since the federal government rightly does not intend to impose a fine on them or even to put them in jail, it has to set incentives – positive or negative. The government has opted for a negative incentive and implicitly makes non-vaccination more expensive.

One way would also be to set both incentives.

Yes, for example through a vaccination bonus. But it is more important to quickly start another big campaign by autumn. She has to reach as many people as possible so that they can get vaccinated.

Some economists warn against making tests for a fee. Because that will prevent numerous people from getting tested. And that is exactly what is wrong with the pandemic. So it is money well invested to cover the cost of tests.

So far it has been money well invested. But now there is another instrument: the free vaccination. In the fight against the pandemic, vaccination is a much better way than letting yourself be free. In hotspots, it may well make sense to offer free tests in the future. But at this point in time, it is right to charge for testing. It must hurt economically if you don’t get vaccinated. If you have to be tested for a fee every time you go to a pub from autumn, this will hopefully increase the willingness to vaccinate.

But only if the test certificate is checked in the local pub.

Of course, there is a risk that a black market will arise and false certificates will be issued or that restaurateurs will not look very closely. But nobody knows what extent that will be. And without incentives, we won’t increase the vaccination rate.

You mentioned the vaccination premium. What do you think of this instrument?

Prof. Rüdiger Bachmann is an economist and teaches economics at the University of Notre Dame.

(Photo: Matt Cashore / University of Notre Dame)

That would be expensive, after all, all those vaccinated would have to be paid the premium retrospectively. For a vaccination premium to work, it has to be high. My colleague Nora Szech suggests 500 euros. With 80 million inhabitants minus those for whom there is still no vaccination, that is a considerable sum. On the other hand, it can be argued that the costs of the pandemic are much higher. But the question arises: Why should you pay people money so that they behave socially?

Also, isn’t there a chance that the reward could do the exact opposite of what you want? Because if you get money for a vaccination, the assumption could spread that the vaccination is something bad.

It is conceivable. Long-term consequences are also possible. The next time the citizens are expected to cooperate, they might say: “Now I want 500 euros again.” However, we do not know exactly how a bonus will work. Because such a large-scale test has not yet been carried out. In this respect, all economists speculate here.

The federal government has chosen one way. Hopefully we will see in autumn whether this is a good way to go. But we’ll never know if that’s the best way to go. Because we don’t try out different solutions and find out which is the best. That is the problem in many economic questions – you cannot experiment.

Categorical vaccination refusers should not be convinced by a bonus …

Anyone who sees dark forces behind a vaccination cannot be reached through it. But hopefully that’s only a very small percentage. Most of them do not get vaccinated because it is too costly for them or because they think that they do not need the vaccination at the moment. For many people, 500 euros is a lot of money. However, it is not so important to them if they do not get money that they do not have. A promised bonus is abstract. However, costs are very specific and thus have a more direct effect than a premium that one misses.

Protection against Covid infection should actually be a sufficient incentive to get vaccinated. But even many people who are ready to be vaccinated are in no hurry. So DJs play the “Long Night of Vaccination” in Berlin, while elsewhere there is a bratwurst for vaccination. Why is it necessary?

It often depends on the packaging. People don’t tick purely economically. If it were purely economic, we would all give each other money for Christmas. But we are not like that. We look forward to the card, the gesture, the presentation. This is important to us.

Jan Gänger spoke to Rüdiger Bachmann

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