This paper studies the macroeconomic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and makes a first step in adapting the central bank modelling apparatus to the new economic landscape. We augment the ECB-BASE model with the predictive dynamics of the SIR model in order to assess the interplay between...

We present a Simple SIR Macro Model to study the economic impact of an epidemic in a model were agent types are unobservable. We solve for the decentralized economy equilibrium and for optimal solution (subject to the constraint that the planner cannot differentiate between agent types). We find...

In this paper we develop a model that aims to investigate the economic and demographic impacts of three effects of the HIV-AIDS epidemic in developing countries. The direct effect of the HIV epidemic is that it increases mortality and morbidity. The two indirect effects, resulting from the...

Infectious disease is currently the main cause of mortality in the world and has been even more important historically. This paper reviews recent research in economic epidemiology. Specifically, it examines the occurrence of infectious diseases and the effects of public health interventions...

We develop a tractable general theory for the study of the economic and demographic impact of epidemics. In particular, we analytically characterise the short and medium term consequences of epidemics for population size, age pyramid, economic performance and income distribution. To this end, we...

How does contagion risk affect the business cycle? We find that the presence of contagion risk significantly alters the transmission of standard macroeconomic shocks. Relative to the first-best equilibrium, the contagion externality significantly reduces the response of output to a technology...

This paper studies how wealth and health inequalities have interacted with the Covid-19 epidemic in a way that has reinforced inequalities in income, savings, epidemic risk and even individual preventive behaviors. We present in more detail two papers and their theoretical and empirical results....

Epidemics invite “pariah-tization.” By this, I mean the process of stigmatizing one marginalized and impotent segment of society as being the group most vulnerable to the disease at hand- without reliable scientific basis. Doing so allows those in power, the young, the rich, the...

Purpose: This paper aims to explore the role of non-properly washed dishes in spreading a virus during pandemics. Specifically, we look at the Influenza virus pandemic that happened in the last century. We use the infection data of Lynch and Cumming (1919) where the authors compare the infection...

Responses to the COVID-19 pandemic have been conditioned by a perceived tradeoff between saving lives and the economic costs of contact-reduction measures. We develop a model of SARS-CoV-2 transmission where populations endogenously reduce contacts in response to the risk of death. We estimate...