Plague and prejudice: disease, discrimination, and social exclusion

Javier A. Birchenall ()
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Javier A. Birchenall: University of California, Santa Barbara

Economic Theory, 2025, vol. 80, issue 1, No 10, 415 pages

Abstract: Abstract I study the social regulation of disease in a search-theoretic economy where health is uncertain and imperfectly observed, and exchange carries the risk of contagion. Traders confront a signal-extraction problem and the equilibrium features a “better safe than sorry” strategy where disease and fear of contagion trigger false alarms, limit the extent of the market, and foster social exclusion. Society’s tolerance toward a disease depends on its danger and visibility. Using these characteristics, I interpret the regulation of the major epidemics in the West (leprosy, plague, smallpox, and cholera) to illustrate how societal anxieties surrounding epidemics fueled prejudice and exclusion.

Keywords: Epidemics diseases; Uncertainty; Sociality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D80 I15 N10 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1007/s00199-025-01635-7

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