Searching for a “Golden Rule” of economic regulation of an infectious disease

Eirik S. Amundsen ()
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Eirik S. Amundsen: Department of Economics, University of Bergen

No 2021/08, IFRO Working Paper from University of Copenhagen, Department of Food and Resource Economics

Abstract: This paper investigates whether a “Golden Rule” of regulation of an infectious disease may be elicited that balances the economic control and disease costs when the arrival of a future vaccine or a cure is uncertain. Formulating an optimal control problem applied to standard compartment models of infection, an optimality rule is derived. This rule is more complex than other similar Golden Rules related to optimal economic growth or extraction of natural resources. The paper contains interpretation of the derived rule and numeric examples of how the rule functions under the compartment models (i.e., the SI, the SIS, and the SIR models.)

Keywords: Infectious disease; economic regulation; Golden Rule; compartment models (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C54 D62 I18 L51 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 18 pages
Date: 2021-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-env, nep-ore and nep-reg
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:foi:wpaper:2021_08

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