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Pandemic Lockdown: The Role of Government Commitment

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  • Moser, Christian
  • Yared, Pierre

Abstract

This note studies optimal lockdown policy in a model in which the government can limit a pandemic's impact via a lockdown at the cost of lower economic output. A government would like to commit to limit the extent of future lockdown in order to support more optimistic investor expectations in the present. However, such a commitment is not credible since investment decisions are sunk when the government makes the lockdown decision in the future. The commitment problem is more severe if lockdown is sufficiently effective at limiting disease spread or if the size of the susceptible population is sufficiently large. Credible rules that limit a government's ability to lock down the economy in the future can improve the efficiency of lockdown policy.

Suggested Citation

  • Moser, Christian & Yared, Pierre, 2020. "Pandemic Lockdown: The Role of Government Commitment," MPRA Paper 99804, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:99804
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Chrys Esseau-Thomas & Omar Galarraga & Sherif Khalifa, 2022. "Epidemics, pandemics and income inequality," Health Economics Review, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 1-15, December.
    2. Giorgio Fabbri & Salvatore Federico & Davide Fiaschi & Fausto Gozzi, 2021. "Mobility decisions, economic dynamics and epidemic," Papers 2107.01746, arXiv.org.
    3. Martin Forster & Emanuela Randon, 2020. "Epidemic policy under uncertainty and information," Discussion Papers 20/05, Department of Economics, University of York.
    4. Shin-ichi Fukuda, 2022. "Self-fulfilling Lockdowns in a Simple SIR-Macro Model," CIRJE F-Series CIRJE-F-1183, CIRJE, Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo.
    5. Facundo Piguillem & Liyan Shi, 2022. "Optimal Covid-19 Quarantine and Testing Policies [‘Optimal targeted lockdowns in a multigroup sir model’]," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 132(647), pages 2534-2562.
    6. Bayer, Christian & Born, Benjamin & Luetticke, Ralph & Müller, Gernot, 2020. "The Coronavirus Stimulus Package: How large is the transfer multiplier?," CEPR Discussion Papers 14600, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    7. Greg Kaplan & Benjamin Moll & Giovanni L. Violante, 2020. "The Great Lockdown and the Big Stimulus: Tracing the Pandemic Possibility Frontier for the U.S," NBER Working Papers 27794, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. David Baqaee & Emmanuel Farhi & Michael J. Mina & James H. Stock, 2020. "Reopening Scenarios," NBER Working Papers 27244, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Alfaro, Laura & Faia, Ester & Lamersdorf, Nora & Saidi, Farzad, 2020. "Social Interactions in Pandemics: Fear, Altruism, and Reciprocity," CEPR Discussion Papers 14716, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    10. Cardani, Roberta & Croitorov, Olga & Giovannini, Massimo & Pfeiffer, Philipp & Ratto, Marco & Vogel, Lukas, 2022. "The euro area’s pandemic recession: A DSGE-based interpretation," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    11. Acedański, Jan, 2021. "Optimal lockdown policy during the election period," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 102-117.
    12. Christopher Cotton & Bahman Kashi & Huw Lloyd‐Ellis & Frederic Tremblay & Brett Crowley, 2022. "Quantifying the economic impacts of COVID‐19 policy responses on Canada's provinces in (almost) real time," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 55(S1), pages 406-445, February.
    13. Laura Alfaro & Ester Faia & Nora Lamersdorf & Farzad Saidi, 2021. "Social Interactions in a Pandemic," ECONtribute Discussion Papers Series 110, University of Bonn and University of Cologne, Germany.
    14. Andr� Kall�k Anundsen & Bj�rnar Karlsen Kivedal & Erling R�ed Larsen & Leif Anders Thorsrud, 2020. "Behavioral changes and policy effects during Covid-19," Working Papers No 07/2020, Centre for Applied Macro- and Petroleum economics (CAMP), BI Norwegian Business School.
    15. 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.
    16. Guido Ascari & Andrea Colciago & Riccardo Silvestrini, 2021. "Business Dynamism, Sectoral Reallocation and Productivity in a Pandemic," Working Papers 482, University of Milano-Bicocca, Department of Economics, revised Sep 2021.
    17. Fushi Wang & Weiwei Qiao & Fei Wang & Liuyan Meng, 2022. "Analysis of Online Consultations and Emergent Treatments of Operative Dentistry and Endodontics during the COVID-19 Epidemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(4), pages 1-9, February.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Coronavirus; COVID-19; SIR Model; Optimal Policy; Rules; Commitment; Flexibility;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E61 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Policy Objectives; Policy Designs and Consistency; Policy Coordination
    • H12 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government - - - Crisis Management
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health

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