Macartan Humphreys: What Good Is Social Science in Times of Crisis? Lessons and Answers from Corona (Moderation: Harald Wilkoszewski)

When Corona hit, many social scientists turned their attention to
trying to understand the social and political correlates of the
spread of the disease, the socioeconomic impacts of the crisis, and
social explanations for the effectiveness of different responses to
the disease. Social sciences, however, largely study normal times
and the utility and validity of their model tools can get stretched
when turned to address a crisis. How well did these models and
tools perform in this crisis and what can be done to ready social
sciences for the next one? Macartan Humphreys is Director of the
Research Unit Institutions and Political Inequality. This session
is moderated by Harald Wilkoszewski, Head of Communications at WZB.
The slides used in this session can be accessed here.