Tommy Andersson

Optimal Trade-Off Between Economic Activity and Health During an Epidemic

Optimal trade-off mellan ekonomisk aktivitet och hälsa under en epidemi

Summary, in English

Thispaperconsidersasimplemodelwhereasocialplannercaninfluencethespread-intensity of an infection wave, and, consequently, also the economic activity and population health, throughasingleparameter. Populationhealthisassumedtoonlybenegativelyaffectedwhen thenumberofsimultaneouslyinfectedexceedshealthcarecapacity. Themainfindingisthat if (i) the planner attaches a positive weight on economic activity and (ii) it is more harmful for the economy to be locked down for longer than shorter time periods, then the optimal policy is to (weakly) exceed health care capacity at some time.

• Författare: Tommy Andersson; Albin Erlanson; Daniel Spiro; Robert Östling
• Avdelning/ar: Nationalekonomiska institutionen
• Publiceringsår: 2020-05-18
• Språk: Engelska
• Länkar: https://arxiv.org/abs/2005.07590
• Dokumenttyp: Webbpublikation
• Ämne: Economics
• Nyckelord: Covid-19 pandemic; SI-model; economic activity; health; optimal policy
• Status: Unpublished