A theory of fiscal policy response to an epidemic.
Health Econ
; 31(9): 2050-2071, 2022 09.
Artículo
en Inglés
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1905855
ABSTRACT
Governments worldwide have issued massive amounts of debt to inject fiscal stimulus during the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper analyzes fiscal responses to an epidemic, in which interactions at work increase the risk of disease and mortality. Fiscal policies, which are designed to borrow against the future and provide transfers to individuals suffering economic hardship, can facilitate consumption smoothing while reduce hours worked and hence mitigate infections. We examine the optimal fiscal policy and characterize the condition under which fiscal policy improves social welfare. We then extend the model analyzing the static and dynamic pecuniary externalities under scale economies-the decrease in labor supply during the epidemic lowers the contemporaneous average wage rate while enhances the post-epidemic workforce health and productivity. We suggest that fiscal policy may not work effectively unless the government coordinates working time, and the optimal size of public debt is affected by production technology and disease severity and transmissibility.
Palabras clave
Texto completo:
Disponible
Colección:
Bases de datos internacionales
Base de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Bienestar Social
/
Pandemias
/
Política Fiscal
/
COVID-19
Tipo de estudio:
Estudio observacional
/
Estudio pronóstico
Límite:
Humanos
Idioma:
Inglés
Revista:
Health Econ
Asunto de la revista:
Servicios de Salud
Año:
2022
Tipo del documento:
Artículo
País de afiliación:
Hec.4564
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