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. 2022;26(1):1-21.
doi: 10.1007/s10058-022-00295-6. Epub 2022 Mar 1.

Testing alone is insufficient

Rahul Deb  1 , Mallesh Pai  2 , Akhil Vohra  3 , Rakesh Vohra  4
Affiliations

Testing alone is insufficient

Rahul Deb et al. Rev Econ Des. 2022.

Abstract

The fear of contracting a serious illness caused by a contagious disease limits economic activity even after reopening. Widespread testing alone will not alleviate this problem. We argue that targeted testing in concert with targeted transfers is essential. We propose a model with these features to determine where agents should be tested and how they should be incentivized. Agents with a low wage, a high risk of infection, and who bear a large cost of falling ill should be tested at work. When testing is very costly, agents with high wages and low expected costs associated with falling ill should be tested at home.

Keywords: COVID-19; Epidemics; Health policy; Mechanism design.

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