Macroeconomic Impacts of a Zombie Epidemic

Shama Bernard (), Edmund Cornforth, Patricia Sánchez Juanino () and Lea De Greef ()

No 41, National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) Policy Papers from National Institute of Economic and Social Research

Abstract: Economic models are valuable tools for exploring hypothetical scenarios, allowing us to analyse how different economic conditions, policy decisions, or unexpected events might affect the overall economy. In this report, we explore the economic impacts of a zombie epidemic. While zombies may not be an actual threat, this scenario can be used as a proxy for other, very much possible events such as pandemics, wars, or civil unrest. With the help of our National Institute Global Econometric Model (NiGEM), we have developed this fictional "Zombie outbreak scenario" as a metaphor to analyse the macroeconomic impacts of such potential extreme events. In this scenario, we examine the outbreak's effects on the economy of the United Kingdom, where the outbreak is assumed to have originated and be largely contained. By analysing the impact on UK output, prices, labour, and fiscal policy, we aim to understand how such events could reshape economies. Additionally, we use this scenario to explore how recent real-world events – such as the London riots, the COVID–19 pandemic, and the war in Ukraine – interact in our model if they occur simultaneously.

Date: 2025-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cis
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://niesr.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/PP- ... 9KjX4TS6UQV85TvutVLa

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:nsr:niesrp:41

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) Policy Papers from National Institute of Economic and Social Research 2 Dean Trench Street Smith Square London SW1P 3HE. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Library & Information Manager ().