Li, HansongWu, Yifei2022-05-242021-09-13Li, Hansong, Yifei Wu. "Ethics and Economics of Medical Supplies in the COVID-19 Pandemic." European Scientific Journal (ESJ) 17, no. 31 (2021): 87. DOI: 10.19044/esj.2021.v17n31p871857-74311857-7881https://nrs.harvard.edu/URN-3:HUL.INSTREPOS:37371706Background: The distribution of healthcare resources across local and global communities has triggered alarms throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Injustice and inefficiency in the transfer of lifesaving medical supplies are magnified by the urgency of the public health crisis, ramified through pre-existing socioeconomic tensions, and further aggravated by frictions that plague international cooperation and global governance. Aim: This article explores the ethical and economic dimensions of medical supplies, from the microcosm of distributive algorithms to the macroscope of medical trade. Methods: It first analyses the performance, strategy, and social responsibility of ventilator-suppliers through a series of case studies. Then, the authors seek to redress the need-insensitivity of existing distributive models with a new price-based and need-conscious algorithm. Next, the paper empirically traces the exchange of medical supplies across borders, examines the effect of trade disputes on medical reliance and pandemic preparedness, and makes a game-theoretical case for sharing critical resources with foreign communities. Conclusion: The authors argue that the equitable allocation of medical supplies must consider the contexts and conditions of need; that political barriers to medical transfers undermine a government’s capacity to contain the contagion by reducing channels of access to medical goods; and that self-interested public policies often turn out to be counterproductive geopolitical strategies. In the post-pandemic world, the prospect of medical justice demands a balanced ethical and economic approach that cuts across the borders of nation-states and the bounds of the private sector and the public sphere.en-USGeneral Earth and Planetary SciencesGeneral EngineeringGeneral Environmental ScienceJournal Article2022-05-2410.19044/esj.2021.v17n31p87Li, Hansong; Wu, Yifei. “Ethics and Economics of Medical Supplies in the COVID-19 Pandemic” European Scientific Journal, 17(31): 87-138, 2021.