Uptake of Diagnostic Tests by Livestock Farmers: A Stochastic Game Theory Approach.

ABSTRACT: Game theory examines strategic decision-making in situations of conflict, cooperation, and coordination. It has become an established tool in economics, psychology and political science, and more recently has been applied to disease control. Used to examine vaccination uptake in human medicine, game theory shows that when vaccination is voluntary some individuals will choose to "free-ride" on the protection provided by others, resulting in insufficient coverage for control of a vaccine-preventable disease. Here, we use game theory to examine farmer uptake of a new diagnostic ELISA test for sheep scab-a highly infectious disease with an estimated cost exceeding £8M per year to the UK industry. The stochastic game models decisions made by neighboring farmers when deciding whether to adopt th

SUBMITTER: Mohr S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7012806 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature