Epidemics in Space: Control, Targeting and Delegation

Darren Hoover and Flavio Toxvaerd

No 17480, CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers

Abstract: We analyse optimal disease mitigation in a spatial model where disease spreads within and between interconnected regions. We characterise optimal strategies and emphasise the role of inter-regional coordination and policy targeting. Delegation of policy to regional planners achieves targeting without coordination, while a centrally determined uniform policy achieves coordination without targeting; both induce inefficiencies. For strongly connected regions, policy coordination is paramount, while for weakly connected regions, targeting becomes more important. Last, we analyse the value of reductions in integration, such as travel restrictions. We show that these may be non-monotone and sensitive to the underlying mitigation policy in place.

Keywords: Economic epidemiology; Mitigation; Spatial epidemiology; Regional social planners; Travel restrictions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C73 E61 H75 I18 R13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022-07
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://cepr.org/publications/DP17480 (application/pdf)
CEPR Discussion Papers are free to download for our researchers, subscribers and members. If you fall into one of these categories but have trouble downloading our papers, please contact us at subscribers@cepr.org

Related works:
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:cpr:ceprdp:17480

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
https://cepr.org/publications/DP17480

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers Centre for Economic Policy Research, 33 Great Sutton Street, London EC1V 0DX.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().