Earlier this year, Public Health Law Watch, in collaboration with members of the George Consortium and other partner organizations, hosted a series of legal briefings related to COVID-19 and legal and policy issues associated with the global pandemic. Experts and scholars joined us for bi-weekly livestreamed discussions on these issues. We invite you to read the summaries of selected episodes below! And, enjoy relistening to the series (linked below and archived on our #COVIDLawBriefing webpage).

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6/4/2020: Law and Political Economy

Mod: Leo Beletsky

Speakers: Amy Kapczynski, Gregg Gonsalves

In this #COVIDLawBrief Professor Beletsky moderates a discussion about the role of the political economy. The talk began by discussing the Neo-liberal doctrine which states that markets are the best way to organize society. This is in opposition to the viewpoint that societies should be organizing markets the way they best see fit. Professor Kapczynski is working towards building new conceptions of the political economy, specifically, realizing that law constructs markets. A noticeable example she raised was the question how did it become accepted practice for new drugs to be so expensive? Changing the narrative about how we arrange our society could have profound effects on making healthcare more accessible for many people. In the United States, capitalism is and has been “constructed along racial lines.” Professor Gonsalves used the example of southern governors choosing to build hospitals in white districts to improve healthcare access and bring jobs to specific communities. These legacies still survive today with the disproportionate effect of COVID-19 on communities of color. Many other countries, such as Denmark, have built in safety nets within the economy that has prevented people from economic collapse amidst the pandemic. Another idea proposed by the professors was building a “Community Health Core.” This goes beyond COVID-19 to structurally change issues from HIV to police actions. This would involve prioritizing more grassroots community based initiatives. They ended with the hope that maybe the country could come out of the pandemic with better healthcare for all.

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Public Health Law Watch’s COVID Law Briefings are co-sponsored by the Center for Health Policy and Law at Northeastern University School of Law, the Center for Public Health Law Research at Temple University Beasley School of Law, the Network for Public Health Law, and the APHA Law Section.