A pastime of Megan and Andy's before the COVID-19 pandemic was to explore new restaurants. When COVID hit, and the government shut down all non-essential businesses, they were unable to do this. When restrictions started lifting, Megan and Andy continued to explore while following safety precautions. Megan was worried that what they were doing was too risky, putting the workers and their families in danger. Andy assured her that what they were doing was ok: with so many unemployed, it was good that people were going back to work and to support the businesses that did not permanently close.

Mary had leftover money in her budget for the month, so she decided to donate it to charity. She decided that Kiva, a charity that offers microloans to women entrepreneurs, was her charity of choice. When she told her friend Sam, he warned her that microloans can cause more harm than good, and encouraged her to give her money to GiveDirectly, a charity that gives money to the poor with no conditions on how to use it.

On June 14, 2014, China’s State Council announced a plan to establish a social credit system, which would assign “social credit scores” to citizens based on their behavior. Chinese State Council say being rewarded for good behavior will make citizens want to be better, but critics view this as an invasion of privacy and personal freedom. How can a community balance its interest in encouraging its members to engage in socially desirable behaviors with community members’ interests in individual privacy and liberty?