"The Economics of Pandemic Prevention and Control: An Overview"

We will discuss the epi-econ approach, which combines epidemiological and economic modeling to address some of the shortcomings of traditional epidemiological models, notably the absence of explicit modeling of incentives and of strategic behavior by individuals and by policy-makers. These models treat pandemic spillover as an exogenous shock. Yet, unlike earthquakes or asteroid events, pandemic emergence results partly from human activities, including value chains for livestock, farming and hunting, tourism in wild landscapes, wildlife and wet markets, and deforestation. These activities generate economic benefits, but also increase the probability of zoonotic spillover. We will discuss costs and benefits of pandemic prevention and the need for modeling that investigates how the probability of zoonotic emergence responds to human activities and how this can be optimally influenced by policy interventions.

Speaker: Dr. Ted Loch-Temzelides

George and Cynthia Mitchell Professor in Sustainable Development, Department of Economics and Baker Institute for Public Policy, Rice University;
Visiting Research Scholar, Center for Health and Wellbeing, Princeton University

Hosted by the Plowright Lab in the Department of Public & Ecosystem Health