If Data Could Talk: Game Theory and Economic Recovery

Welcome back to another recap of our livestream series, If Data Could Talk! Each episode, data experts from the community share resources you can read, watch, or listen to around the topic of data literacy. This episode features co-hosts Andy Cotgreave, Technical Evangelist at Tableau, and Amanda Makulec, MPH, Senior Data Visualization Lead at Excella, along with special guest Larry Samuelson, Professor of Economics at Yale University.

First off, Andy and Amanda take a look at Shirley Wu’s People of the Pandemic game—a simulation that shows how an infectious disease might spread over eight weeks in your community. Andy makes the assertion that Wu’s game is a representation of game theory, which is later confirmed by Larry. Amanda points out that the game does a great job of highlighting how collective individual decisions come together to influence broader public health outcomes. Watch the segment here.

Next, we hear from Larry on the topic of economic recovery—he explains which metrics and models he’s looking at to assess a timeline for reopening the economy. Larry shares insight into several different models and what the outcomes of each might look like, including the New Zealand model and the Sweden model. Amanda also asks about how policymakers should weigh COVID-19 data when making decisions, given the uncertainty of the data. The episode closes with a discussion about unemployment across the world, and how different economies are offering support for those who lost jobs due to COVID-19. Watch the segment here.

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• To learn more about COVID-19 and see how Tableau can help you start analyzing the data on the virus yourself, visit our Data Resource Hub.