Labor markets during pandemics

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Kapicka, Marek; Rupert, Peter
• 署名单位: Czech Academy of Sciences; Economics Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences; Charles University Prague; Charles University Prague; Czech Academy of Sciences; Economics Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences; University of California System; University of California Santa Barbara
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC THEORY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-0531
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jet.2022.105520
• 发表日期: 2022
• 关键词: Mortensen-Pissarides; SIR; labor market; Covid-19

摘要

The COVID-19 pandemic has killed millions across the globe and government responses have led to tens of millions of jobs lost. This paper combines the SIR epidemic model with a frictional labor market to examine the interaction between infection, wages and unemployment.The labor market is not efficient during the pandemic. Optimal policies show that it is often optimal to shut down businesses and impose a quarantine before the pandemic peaks. A quarantine itself is not enough, however, and must be complemented by additional policies. The policies are not unique and in-clude a Pigouvian infection tax on those infected, a tax on susceptible individuals, higher unemployment benefits and a tax on vacancy creation. All policies are state dependent and depend both on the number of unemployed and on the number of infected.(c) 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.