Yes to mask or no to smoking, why harsh rules don’t work

With the UK reversing its mask mandates and Canada seeing big protests against vaccine mandates, a global recalibration is underway on the use of regulatory approaches to change health-related human behaviours, especially those that end up criminalising individuals with a specific behaviour. Use of force to change behaviour is generally unwelcome, at both the individual and social levels. We need to strike a good balance between the powers of the state to regulate versus constitutionally guaranteed rights of individuals as well as social mores.

What is the power of social norms?