(featured image: based on an original photo by Maciej326)

The Great Christmas trade-off

Do we need to choose between outcomes, or between values, this Christmas?

This is the time when, traditionally, ubiquitous is the most fitting term for Slade’s Noddy Holder’s voice, yelling “It’s Christmas!” on the radio, in the shops and on the streets. True, but it won’t be a Christmas like the ones we are used to, and not only because there is rather less of Mr Holder’s dulcet tones around.

Much of Europe is currently still under some form of lockdown, and with the festive season approaching, people are anxious. On the one hand, we crave the social contact with loved ones which, at best, has been patchy for the last nine months, while, on the other, attending a large family gathering will raise the chance that we contract COVID-19.

One the hand, on the other hand… if that isn’t economic language! And there is indeed a trade-off to be made between the joys of traditional Christmas and New Year celebrations on the one hand, and the risk of becoming infected.

To complicate matters a little, the trade-off does not just affect us personally. As we have snuck into economics land, let’s unashamedly call on another apt economic term: our behaviour may cause externalities — others who have no say in the choices we make will still be affected by them. We may not be in a…