Rational social distancing policy during epidemics with limited healthcare capacity.

ABSTRACT: Epidemics of infectious diseases posing a serious risk to human health have occurred throughout history. During recent epidemics there has been much debate about policy, including how and when to impose restrictions on behaviour. Policymakers must balance a complex spectrum of objectives, suggesting a need for quantitative tools. Whether health services might be 'overwhelmed' has emerged as a key consideration. Here we show how costly interventions, such as taxes or subsidies on behaviour, can be used to exactly align individuals' decision making with government preferences even when these are not aligned. In order to achieve this, we develop a nested optimisation algorithm of both the government intervention strategy and the resulting equilibrium behaviour of individuals. We focus on a si

SUBMITTER: Schnyder SK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10602387 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature