On SARS Type Economic Effects During Infectious Disease Outbreaks:

Infectious disease outbreaks can exact a high human and economic cost through illness and death. But, as with severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in East Asia in 2003, or the plague outbreak in Surat, India, in 1994, they can also create severe economic disruptions even when there is, ultimatel...

Ausführliche Beschreibung

Gespeichert in:
Bibliographische Detailangaben
1. Verfasser: Brahmbhatt, Milan (VerfasserIn)
Format: Elektronisch E-Book
Sprache:English
Veröffentlicht: Washington, D.C The World Bank 2008
Schlagworte:
Online-Zugang:DE-522
DE-12
DE-521
DE-1102
DE-1046
DE-1047
DE-858
DE-Aug4
DE-573
DE-M347
DE-92
DE-1051
DE-898
DE-859
DE-860
DE-1049
DE-863
DE-862
DE-523
DE-2070s
DE-M352
DE-Re13
DE-70
DE-128
DE-22
DE-155
DE-150
DE-91
DE-384
DE-473
DE-19
DE-355
DE-703
DE-20
DE-706
DE-29
DE-739
Volltext
Zusammenfassung:Infectious disease outbreaks can exact a high human and economic cost through illness and death. But, as with severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in East Asia in 2003, or the plague outbreak in Surat, India, in 1994, they can also create severe economic disruptions even when there is, ultimately, relatively little illness or death. Such disruptions are commonly the result of uncoordinated and panicky efforts by individuals to avoid becoming infected, of preventive activity. This paper places these "SARS type" effects in the context of research on economic epidemiology, in which behavioral responses to disease risk have both economic and epidemiological consequences. The paper looks in particular at how people form subjective probability judgments about disease risk. Public opinion surveys during the SARS outbreak provide suggestive evidence that people did indeed at times hold excessively high perceptions of the risk of becoming infected, or, if infected, of dying from the disease. The paper discusses research in behavioral economics and the theory of information cascades that may shed light on the origin of such biases. The authors consider whether public information strategies can help reduce unwarranted panic. A preliminary question is why governments often seem to have strong incentives to conceal information about infectious disease outbreaks. The paper reviews recent game-theoretic analysis that clarifies government incentives. An important finding is that government incentives to conceal decline the more numerous are non-official sources of information about a possible disease outbreak. The findings suggest that honesty may indeed be the best public policy under modern conditions of easy mass global communications
Beschreibung:Weitere Ausgabe: Brahmbhatt, Milan: On SARS Type Economic Effects During Infectious Disease Outbreaks
Beschreibung:1 Online-Ressource (1 online resource (30 p.))