An imperfect test for a virus can Be worse than No test at all

Mark Whitmeyer

doi:10.1002/hec.4254

An imperfect test for a virus can Be worse than No test at all

Mark Whitmeyer

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

This note studies the effect of the availability of a test for a virus on the public health of a population. It is shown by example that the existence of a freely available and moderately informative test for a virus may lower society's welfare in comparison to the case where no test exists or access to the test is restricted. In this setting, any test provided to any subset of agents who would find it optimal not to isolate absent the test improves welfare.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	1347-1360
Number of pages	14
Journal	Health Economics (United Kingdom)
Volume	30
Issue number	6
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1002/hec.4254
State	Published - Jun 2021
Externally published	Yes

Keywords

COVID-19
coronavirus
group testing
information design

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Health Policy

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10.1002/hec.4254

Cite this

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abstract = "This note studies the effect of the availability of a test for a virus on the public health of a population. It is shown by example that the existence of a freely available and moderately informative test for a virus may lower society's welfare in comparison to the case where no test exists or access to the test is restricted. In this setting, any test provided to any subset of agents who would find it optimal not to isolate absent the test improves welfare.",

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AB - This note studies the effect of the availability of a test for a virus on the public health of a population. It is shown by example that the existence of a freely available and moderately informative test for a virus may lower society's welfare in comparison to the case where no test exists or access to the test is restricted. In this setting, any test provided to any subset of agents who would find it optimal not to isolate absent the test improves welfare.

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KW - group testing

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An imperfect test for a virus can Be worse than No test at all

Abstract

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

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