Working Paper: NBER ID: w7037
Authors: Tomas Philipson
Abstract: Infectious disease is currently the main cause of mortality in the world and has been even more important historically. This paper reviews recent research in economic epidemiology. Specifically, it discusses the occurrence of infectious diseases and the effects of public health interventions designed to control them. Several key points include: differences in the predictions regarding short- and long-run disease occurrence between rational and epidemiological epidemics, the nonstandard effects of interventions when epidemics are rational, the desirability and possibility of eradicating infectious diseases, as well as the components of the welfare loss induced by infectious diseases.
Keywords: Economic Epidemiology; Infectious Diseases; Public Health Interventions
JEL Codes: I11; I18
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| increase in the prevalence of infectious disease (I15) | growth in private prevention (O17) |
| increase in disease prevalence (I12) | demand for preventive measures (G52) |
| higher vaccination rates among those covered by public programs (I13) | lower incentive for those outside the program to vaccinate (J32) |
| higher vaccination rates (I19) | overall demand for vaccination becomes inelastic in response to subsidies (H31) |
| prevalence elasticity of demand for prevention (D12) | demand shifts in response to changes in prevalence (I12) |
| welfare loss from diseases is understated (I12) | prevention is prevalence elastic (I12) |