Tommy Andersson
Professor
Optimal Trade-Off Between Economic Activity and Health During an Epidemic
Optimal trade-off mellan ekonomisk aktivitet och hälsa under en epidemi
Author
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.
Department/s
- Department of Economics
Publishing year
2020-05-18
Language
English
Document type
Web publication
Topic
- Economics
Keywords
- Covid-19 pandemic
- SI-model
- economic activity
- health
- optimal policy
Status
Unpublished