Economic epidemiology in the wake of Covid-19∗ David McAdamsy August 27, 2020 Abstract Infectious diseases, ideas, new products, and other \infectants" spread in epidemic fashion through social contact. The Covid-19 pandemic, the prolifer- ation of \fake news," and the rise of antibiotic resistance have thrust economic epidemiology into the forefront of public-policy debate and re-invigorated the field. Focusing for concreteness on disease-causing pathogens, this paper pro- vides a taxonomy of economic-epidemic models, emphasizing both the biology / immunology of the disease and the economics of the social context. An economic epidemic is one whose diffusion through the agent population is generated by agents' endogenous behavior. I highlight properties of the Nash-equilibrium epi- demic trajectory and discuss ways in which public-health authorities can change the game for the better, (i) by imposing restrictions on agent activity to reduce the harm done during a viral outbreak and (ii) by enabling diagnostic-informed interventions to slow or even reverse the rise of antibiotic resistance. Keywords: economic epidemic, epidemic limbo, Covid-19, lockdown, antibiotic resistance, diagnostics ∗When citing this paper, please use the following: McAdams D. 2021. Economic epidemiology in the wake of Covid-19. Annual Review of Economics 13: Submitted. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev- economics-082120-122900 yFuqua School of Business and Economics Department, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA. Email:
[email protected]. I thank David Argente, Chris Avery, Troy Day, Mike Hoy, Gregor Jarosch, Philipp Kircher, Anton Korinek, Ramanan Laxminarayan, Tomas Philipson, Elena Quercioli, Steve Redding, Tim Reluga, Bob Rowthorn, Yangbo Song, Arjun Srinivasan, and Flavio Toxvaerd for helpful comments and encouragement.