Task

One (26/9/2022) - Charles Bromley-Davenport

Monday, 26 September 2022 21:33

1. List of Questions
- Normative
§ How best do we recruit and retain community health workers and make them work better?
§ What is the most effective method of improving Zambian health workers?
- Positive
§ What is the effect of employment in a 1% increase in the budget of the Zambian
Government on advertising health work as a ‘career boost’?
§ At what rate does the number of Zambian health workers with 9 or more O-Levels (or
equivalent) increase with a 1% increase of the Government’s budget on advertising the
occupation as a ‘career boost’?

2. An intuitive difference an economist would make is to lend a greater degree of emphasis on the
behaviour as self-serving. Economists explore this through Game Theory, and the particular case of Kitty
Genovese is a prime example of the ‘Volunteers Dilemma’. This game models why individuals would not
give up a small sacrifice (as in the case of Kitty Genovese, for a bystander to not intervene/call the
police), as many would be motivated that someone else would instead given the number of players
were sufficiently large. This is of great use to economists in regards to topics such as public goods and
settling disputes over planning laws.

This can be seen in the case of a lawmaker deciding where to place a wind farm. While near all people
would like reap the benefits of wind energy, there is a near equal opposition to having it placed in close
proximity to where an individual lives. The insight given by the Volunteers Dilemma makes great sense
of this and is likely of great use to policymakers.