The AIDS Epidemic: Challenges for Feminist Economics

Feminist economics can provide critical insights into understanding the HIV/AIDS epidemic - the disease's progression, its microeconomic and macroeconomic impacts, and the effectiveness of policy interventions. Yet, relatively little work has been or is being done by feminist economists on HIV/AIDS. In this paper, the editors briefly survey the recent social science literature on the gendered nature of the epidemic and identify key constructs of feminist economic theory that might be productively applied to understanding HIV/AIDS. For example, an analysis of safe sex within a game-theoretic bargaining framework would highlight the limitations of prevention efforts that focus on changing individual behavior and underscore the impact of gendered institutions on women's likelihood of infection and access to treatment. A gendered analysis of the microeconomic and macroeconomic impacts of HIV/AIDS would contribute to a fuller understanding of the disease's impact on economic well-being. This paper challenges feminist economists to address these important research questions.