Hausdorff Center for Mathematics and Institute for Microeconomics, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
Health Econ. 2021 Jun;30(6):1347-1360. doi: 10.1002/hec.4254. Epub 2021 Mar 24.
This note studies the effect of the availability of a test for a virus on the public health of a population. It is shown by example that the existence of a freely available and moderately informative test for a virus may lower society's welfare in comparison to the case where no test exists or access to the test is restricted. In this setting, any test provided to any subset of agents who would find it optimal not to isolate absent the test improves welfare.
本研究旨在探讨病毒检测手段的普及对人群公共健康的影响。研究结果表明，与不存在检测手段或检测手段受限的情况相比，当一种免费、信息适中的病毒检测手段普及后，社会福利反而可能会降低。在这种情况下，为任何不会因检测手段而隔离的目标人群提供检测，都将改善福利。
