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...

Given the unprecedented level and duration of mitigation policies during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, it is not surprising that the public and the media have raised important questions about the potential for negative mental health consequences of the measures. To answer them, natural variability...

At present coronavirus disease (COVID-19), an outbreak, calls for an emergency concern for public health internationally reported by the Director-General of WHO [1]. Nowadays, it stands for a universal crisis because the adverse effect of coronavirus proceeds to advance and continuously evolve...

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...

In settings where resistance and rampant misinformation against vaccines exist, the prospect of containing infectious diseases remains a challenge. Can delivery of information regarding the benefits of vaccination through personal home visits by local ambassadors increase vaccine uptake? We...

We assess whether the COVID-19 vaccine induces COVID-19 risky behavior (e.g., going to bars and restaurants) and thus reduces vaccine efficacy. A key empirical challenge is the endogeneity bias when comparing risk-taking by vaccination status since people choose whether to get vaccinated. To...

The effectiveness of the state policies providing incentives for vaccination to curb the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is hotly contested, and evidence from the literature remains inconclusive. This study presents evidence from a natural experiment on the effects of the U.S....

Iron deficiency anemia is frequent among the poor worldwide. While it can be prevented with the appropriate supplement or food fortification, these programs often do not consistently reach the poorest. This paper reports on the impact of a potential strategy to address iron deficiency anemia in...