Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/223707 
Year of Publication: 
2020
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 13265
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
This paper investigates the role of testing and age-composition in the Covid-19 epidemic. We augment a standard SIR epidemiological model with individual choices regarding how much time to spend working and consuming outside the house, both of which increase the risk of transmission. Individuals who have flu symptoms are unsure whether they caught Covid-19 or simply a common cold. Testing reduces the time of uncertainty. Individuals are heterogeneous with respect to age. Younger people are less likely to die, exacerbating their willingness to take risks and to impose externalities on the old. We explore heterogeneous policy responses in terms of testing, confinements, and selective mixing by age group.
Subjects: 
COVID-19
testing
social distancing
age-specific policies
JEL: 
E17
C63
D62
I10
I18
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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