Syphilis Cycles

David Aadland (), David Finnoff and Kevin Huang ()

The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, 2013, vol. 13, issue 1, 297-348

Abstract: Syphilis has re-emerged as a global public health issue. In lesser developed countries, millions of people are contracting the disease, which can be fatal without access to proper treatment. In developed countries, prevalence is on the rise and has cycled around endemic levels for decades. We investigate syphilis dynamics by extending the classic SIRS epidemiological model to incorporate forward-looking, rational individuals. The integrated economic-epidemiological model shows that human preferences over health and sexual activity are central to the nature of syphilis cycles. We find that low-activity individuals will behave in a manner that significantly dampen the cycles, while high-activity individuals will tend to exacerbate the cycles, a phenomenon we refer to as rational dynamic resonance. The model also provides insights into failed attempts by the U.S. government to eradicate syphilis from the U.S. population.

Keywords: syphilis; AIDS; disease; eradication; cycles; fatalism; dynamic resonance; SIRS (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D1 I1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1515/bejeap-2012-0060 (text/html)
For access to full text, subscription to the journal or payment for the individual article is required.

Related works:
Journal Article: Syphilis Cycles (2013)
Journal Article: Syphilis Cycles (2013)
Working Paper: Syphilis Cycles (2010)
Working Paper: Syphilis Cycles (2008)
Working Paper: Syphilis Cycles (2007)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bpj:bejeap:v:14:y:2013:i:1:p:297-348:n:2

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.degruyter.com/journal/key/bejeap/html

DOI: 10.1515/bejeap-2012-0060

Access Statistics for this article

The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy is currently edited by Hendrik Jürges and Sandra Ludwig

More articles in The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy from De Gruyter
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Peter Golla ().