Why We Didn’t Prepare For The Pandemic

4/22/2020 by NPR

Episode: https://play.podtrac.com/npr-510325/edge1.pod.npr.org/anon.npr-podcasts/podcast/npr/indicator/2020/04/20200422_indicator_200422_tim_harford_bad_brains_final-f2ba14a8-87c3-4aae-9ae6-98adc41fe281.mp3?awCollectionId=510325&awEpisodeId=841988400&aw_0_1st.cv=yes&orgId=1&topicId=1006&d=599&p=510325&story=841988400&t=podcast&e=841988400&size=9578696&ft=pod&f=510325

We’ve had plenty of warnings over the years that we weren’t ready for a pandemic. Today on the show: the psychology and economics of why.

The problem is that there are so many potentially alarming things on the horizon that are low probability but high risk. You have to pick and choose but usually immediate concerns get all the attention for good reason. Sometimes you can’t be prepared.