IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ejores/v305y2023i3p1366-1389.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Optimal timing of non-pharmaceutical interventions during an epidemic

Author

Listed:
  • Huberts, Nick F.D.
  • Thijssen, Jacco J.J.

Abstract

In response to the recent outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 virus governments have aimed to reduce the virus’s spread through, inter alia, non-pharmaceutical intervention. We address the question when such measures should be implemented and, once implemented, when to remove them.

Suggested Citation

  • Huberts, Nick F.D. & Thijssen, Jacco J.J., 2023. "Optimal timing of non-pharmaceutical interventions during an epidemic," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 305(3), pages 1366-1389.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ejores:v:305:y:2023:i:3:p:1366-1389
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ejor.2022.06.034
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0377221722005094
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ejor.2022.06.034?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Manski, Charles F. & Molinari, Francesca, 2021. "Estimating the COVID-19 infection rate: Anatomy of an inference problem," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 220(1), pages 181-192.
    2. Lifen Jia & Wei Chen, 2021. "Uncertain SEIAR model for COVID-19 cases in China," Fuzzy Optimization and Decision Making, Springer, vol. 20(2), pages 243-259, June.
    3. Ghaderi, Mohammad, 2022. "Public health interventions in the face of pandemics: Network structure, social distancing, and heterogeneity," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 298(3), pages 1016-1031.
    4. Facundo Piguillem & Liyan Shi, 2022. "Optimal Covid-19 Quarantine and Testing Policies," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 132(647), pages 2534-2562.
    5. Fernando Alvarez & David Argente, 2020. "A Simple Planning Problem for COVID-19 Lockdown," Working Papers 2020-34, Becker Friedman Institute for Research In Economics.
    6. Garriga, Carlos & Manuelli, Rody & Sanghi, Siddhartha, 2022. "Optimal management of an epidemic: Lockdown, vaccine and value of life," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    7. Tao Wang & Bingsheng Liu & Jiaming Zhang & Guijun Li, 2019. "A Real Options‐Based Decision‐Making Model for Infrastructure Investment to Prevent Rainstorm Disasters," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 28(11), pages 2699-2715, November.
    8. Steffen, Bjarne & Weber, Christoph, 2016. "Optimal operation of pumped-hydro storage plants with continuous time-varying power prices," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 252(1), pages 308-321.
    9. Truong, Chi & Trück, Stefan, 2016. "It’s not now or never: Implications of investment timing and risk aversion on climate adaptation to extreme events," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 253(3), pages 856-868.
    10. Thijssen, Jacco J.J. & Bregantini, Daniele, 2017. "Costly sequential experimentation and project valuation with an application to health technology assessment," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 202-229.
    11. Bøckman, Thor & Fleten, Stein-Erik & Juliussen, Erik & Langhammer, Håvard J. & Revdal, Ingemar, 2008. "Investment timing and optimal capacity choice for small hydropower projects," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 190(1), pages 255-267, October.
    12. Pierre-Alexandre Bliman & Michel Duprez & Yannick Privat & Nicolas Vauchelet, 2021. "Optimal Immunity Control and Final Size Minimization by Social Distancing for the SIR Epidemic Model," Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications, Springer, vol. 189(2), pages 408-436, May.
    13. Ernstsen, Rune Ramsdal & Boomsma, Trine Krogh, 2018. "Valuation of power plants," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 266(3), pages 1153-1174.
    14. Nagurney, Anna, 2021. "Supply chain game theory network modeling under labor constraints: Applications to the Covid-19 pandemic," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 293(3), pages 880-891.
    15. Støre, Kristian & Fleten, Stein-Erik & Hagspiel, Verena & Nunes, Cláudia, 2018. "Switching from oil to gas production in a depleting field," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 271(2), pages 710-719.
    16. Andrew Atkeson, 2020. "What Will be the Economic Impact of COVID-19 in the US? Rough Estimates of Disease Scenarios," Staff Report 595, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
    17. Toxvaerd, F.M.O, 2020. "Equilibrium Social Distancing," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 2021, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    18. Federico, Salvatore & Ferrari, Giorgio, 2020. "Taming the Spread of an Epidemic by Lockdown Policies," Center for Mathematical Economics Working Papers 639, Center for Mathematical Economics, Bielefeld University.
    19. Korinek, Anton & Bethune, Zachary, 2020. "COVID-19 Infection Externalities: Trading Off Lives vs. Livelihoods," CEPR Discussion Papers 14596, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    20. Trigeorgis, Lenos & Tsekrekos, Andrianos E., 2018. "Real Options in Operations Research: A Review," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 270(1), pages 1-24.
    21. Pendharkar, Parag C., 2010. "Valuing interdependent multi-stage IT investments: A real options approach," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 201(3), pages 847-859, March.
    22. J. Muñoz & J. Contreras & J. Caamaño & P. Correia, 2011. "A decision-making tool for project investments based on real options: the case of wind power generation," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 186(1), pages 465-490, June.
    23. Nikolopoulos, Konstantinos & Punia, Sushil & Schäfers, Andreas & Tsinopoulos, Christos & Vasilakis, Chrysovalantis, 2021. "Forecasting and planning during a pandemic: COVID-19 growth rates, supply chain disruptions, and governmental decisions," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 290(1), pages 99-115.
    24. Alexis Akira Toda, 2020. "Susceptible-Infected-Recovered (SIR) Dynamics of COVID-19 and Economic Impact," Papers 2003.11221, arXiv.org, revised Mar 2020.
    25. Caulkins, Jonathan P. & Grass, Dieter & Feichtinger, Gustav & Hartl, Richard F. & Kort, Peter M. & Prskawetz, Alexia & Seidl, Andrea & Wrzaczek, Stefan, 2021. "The optimal lockdown intensity for COVID-19," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    26. Thomas Kruse & Philipp Strack, 2020. "Optimal Control of an Epidemic through Social Distancing," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 2229, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University.
    27. Farboodi, Maryam & Jarosch, Gregor & Shimer, Robert, 2021. "Internal and external effects of social distancing in a pandemic," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 196(C).
    28. Christopher Avery & William Bossert & Adam Clark & Glenn Ellison & Sara Fisher Ellison, 2020. "Policy Implications of Models of the Spread of Coronavirus: Perspectives and Opportunities for Economists," NBER Working Papers 27007, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    29. d'Halluin, Y. & Forsyth, P.A. & Vetzal, K.R., 2007. "Wireless network capacity management: A real options approach," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 176(1), pages 584-609, January.
    30. Firoozi, Fathali & Merrifield, John, 2003. "An optimal timing model of water reallocation and reservoir construction," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 145(1), pages 165-174, February.
    31. Daron Acemoglu & Victor Chernozhukov & Ivàn Werning & Michael D. Whinston, 2020. "A Multi-Risk SIR Model with Optimally Targeted Lockdown," CeMMAP working papers CWP14/20, Centre for Microdata Methods and Practice, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    32. Leon Mutesa & Pacifique Ndishimye & Yvan Butera & Jacob Souopgui & Annette Uwineza & Robert Rutayisire & Ella Larissa Ndoricimpaye & Emile Musoni & Nadine Rujeni & Thierry Nyatanyi & Edouard Ntagwabir, 2021. "A pooled testing strategy for identifying SARS-CoV-2 at low prevalence," Nature, Nature, vol. 589(7841), pages 276-280, January.
    33. Christopher Avery & William Bossert & Adam Thomas Clark & Glenn Ellison & Sara Ellison, 2020. "Policy Implications of Models of the Spread of Coronavirus: Perspectives and Opportunities for Economists," CESifo Working Paper Series 8293, CESifo.
    34. Sripad K. Devalkar & Ravi Anupindi & Amitabh Sinha, 2011. "Integrated Optimization of Procurement, Processing, and Trade of Commodities," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 59(6), pages 1369-1381, December.
    35. Kallio, Markku & Kuula, Markku & Oinonen, Sami, 2012. "Real options valuation of forest plantation investments in Brazil," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 217(2), pages 428-438.
    36. Leon Mutesa & Pacifique Ndishimye & Yvan Butera & Jacob Souopgui & Annette Uwineza & Robert Rutayisire & Ella Larissa Ndoricimpaye & Emile Musoni & Nadine Rujeni & Thierry Nyatanyi & Edouard Ntagwabir, 2021. "Author Correction: A pooled testing strategy for identifying SARS-CoV-2 at low prevalence," Nature, Nature, vol. 595(7865), pages 3-3, July.
    37. Matt Thompson & Matt Davison & Henning Rasmussen, 2004. "Valuation and Optimal Operation of Electric Power Plants in Competitive Markets," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 52(4), pages 546-562, August.
    38. Tsekrekos, Andrianos E. & Yannacopoulos, Athanasios N., 2016. "Optimal switching decisions under stochastic volatility with fast mean reversion," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 251(1), pages 148-157.
    39. Felix, Bastian Joachim & Weber, Christoph, 2012. "Gas storage valuation applying numerically constructed recombining trees," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 216(1), pages 178-187.
    40. Nikzad, Erfaneh & Bashiri, Mahdi & Abbasi, Babak, 2021. "A matheuristic algorithm for stochastic home health care planning," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 288(3), pages 753-774.
    41. Silal, Sheetal Prakash, 2021. "Operational research: A multidisciplinary approach for the management of infectious disease in a global context," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 291(3), pages 929-934.
    42. Marcus R. Keogh‐Brown & Simon Wren‐Lewis & W. John Edmunds & Philippe Beutels & Richard D. Smith, 2010. "The possible macroeconomic impact on the UK of an influenza pandemic," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 19(11), pages 1345-1360, November.
    43. Neil M. Ferguson & Derek A.T. Cummings & Simon Cauchemez & Christophe Fraser & Steven Riley & Aronrag Meeyai & Sopon Iamsirithaworn & Donald S. Burke, 2005. "Strategies for containing an emerging influenza pandemic in Southeast Asia," Nature, Nature, vol. 437(7056), pages 209-214, September.
    44. Francis de Véricourt, & Huseyin Gurkan, & Shouqiang Wang,, 2020. "Informing the public about a pandemic," ESMT Research Working Papers ESMT-20-03, ESMT European School of Management and Technology, revised 11 Feb 2021.
    45. Chung-Li Tseng & Graydon Barz, 2002. "Short-Term Generation Asset Valuation: A Real Options Approach," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 50(2), pages 297-310, April.
    46. Shin, Inyong, 2020. "An Optimal Policy for Social Resources Allocation: When Outbreak of Infectious Diseases," MPRA Paper 99936, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Garriga, Carlos & Manuelli, Rody & Sanghi, Siddhartha, 2022. "Optimal management of an epidemic: Lockdown, vaccine and value of life," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    2. Giorgio Fabbri & Salvatore Federico & Davide Fiaschi & Fausto Gozzi, 2024. "Mobility decisions, economic dynamics and epidemic," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 77(1), pages 495-531, February.
    3. Vandenbroucke Guillaume, 2022. "The Mechanics of Individually- and Socially-Optimal Decisions during an Epidemic," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 22(1), pages 131-158, January.
    4. Miguel Casares & Paul Gomme & Hashmat Khan, 2022. "COVID‐19 pandemic and economic scenarios for Ontario," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 55(S1), pages 503-539, February.
    5. Trigeorgis, Lenos & Tsekrekos, Andrianos E., 2018. "Real Options in Operations Research: A Review," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 270(1), pages 1-24.
    6. V. V. Chari & Rishabh Kirpalani & Christopher Phelan, 2021. "The Hammer and the Scalpel: On the Economics of Indiscriminate versus Targeted Isolation Policies during Pandemics," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 42, pages 1-14, October.
    7. Nadarajah, Selvaprabu & Secomandi, Nicola, 2023. "A review of the operations literature on real options in energy," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 309(2), pages 469-487.
    8. Martin F. Quaas & Jasper N. Meya & Hanna Schenk & Björn Bos & Moritz A. Drupp & Till Requate, 2020. "The Social Cost of Contacts: Theory and Evidence for the Covid-19 Pandemic in Germany," CESifo Working Paper Series 8347, CESifo.
    9. Ichino, Andrea & Favero, Carlo A. & Rustichini, Aldo, 2020. "Restarting the economy while saving lives under Covid-19," CEPR Discussion Papers 14664, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    10. Jesper Akesson & Sam Ashworth-Hayes & Robert Hahn & Robert Metcalfe & Itzhak Rasooly, 2022. "Fatalism, beliefs, and behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 64(2), pages 147-190, April.
    11. Timo Boppart & Karl Harmenberg & John Hassler & Per Krusell & Jonna Olsson, 2020. "Integrated Epi-Econ Assessment," NBER Working Papers 28282, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. David E. Bloom & Michael Kuhn & Klaus Prettner, 2022. "Modern Infectious Diseases: Macroeconomic Impacts and Policy Responses," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 60(1), pages 85-131, March.
    13. Stefan Pollinger, 2023. "Optimal Contact Tracing and Social Distancing Policies to Suppress A New Infectious Disease," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 133(654), pages 2483-2503.
    14. Fernández-Villaverde, Jesús & Jones, Charles I., 2022. "Estimating and simulating a SIRD Model of COVID-19 for many countries, states, and cities," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    15. Julliard, Christian & Shi, Ran & Yuan, Kathy, 2023. "The spread of COVID-19 in London: Network effects and optimal lockdowns," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 235(2), pages 2125-2154.
    16. Alibeiki, Hedayat & Lotfaliei, Babak, 2022. "To expand and to abandon: Real options under asset variance risk premium," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 300(2), pages 771-787.
    17. Lee, Sokbae & Liao, Yuan & Seo, Myung Hwan & Shin, Youngki, 2021. "Sparse HP filter: Finding kinks in the COVID-19 contact rate," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 220(1), pages 158-180.
    18. Stephen C. Newbold & David Finnoff & Linda Thunström & Madison Ashworth & Jason F. Shogren, 2020. "Effects of Physical Distancing to Control COVID-19 on Public Health, the Economy, and the Environment," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 76(4), pages 705-729, August.
    19. Daron Acemoglu & Ali Makhdoumi & Azarakhsh Malekian & Asuman Ozdaglar, 2020. "Testing, Voluntary Social Distancing and the Spread of an Infection," NBER Working Papers 27483, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. Korolev, Ivan, 2021. "Identification and estimation of the SEIRD epidemic model for COVID-19," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 220(1), pages 63-85.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ejores:v:305:y:2023:i:3:p:1366-1389. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/eor .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.