Economic incentives and mathematical models of disease

Abstract

The fields of epidemiological disease modeling and economics have tended to work independently of each other despite their common reliance on the language of mathematics and exploration of similar questions related to human behavior and infectious disease. This paper explores the benefits of incorporating simple economic principles of individual behavior and resource optimization into epidemiological models, reviews related research, and indicates how future cross-discipline collaborations can generate more accurate models of disease and its control to guide policy makers.