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Socially vs. Privately Optimal Control of Livestock Diseases: A Case for Integration of Epidemiology and Economics

This paper aims to illustrate the interdependencies between key epidemiological and economic factors that influence the control of many livestock infectious diseases. The factors considered here are (i) farmer heterogeneity (i.e., differences in how farmers respond to a perceived disease risk), (ii)...

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Autores principales: Mendes, Ângelo J., Haydon, Daniel T., McIntosh, Emma, Hanley, Nick, Halliday, Jo E. B.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7723844/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33324694
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2020.558409
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author Mendes, Ângelo J.
Haydon, Daniel T.
McIntosh, Emma
Hanley, Nick
Halliday, Jo E. B.
author_facet Mendes, Ângelo J.
Haydon, Daniel T.
McIntosh, Emma
Hanley, Nick
Halliday, Jo E. B.
author_sort Mendes, Ângelo J.
collection PubMed
description This paper aims to illustrate the interdependencies between key epidemiological and economic factors that influence the control of many livestock infectious diseases. The factors considered here are (i) farmer heterogeneity (i.e., differences in how farmers respond to a perceived disease risk), (ii) off-farm effects of farmers' actions to control a disease (i.e., costs and benefits borne by agents that are external to the farm), and (iii) misalignment between privately and socially optimal control efforts (i.e., privately optimal behavior not conducive to a socially optimal outcome). Endemic chronic diseases cause a wide range of adverse social and economic impacts, particularly in low-income countries. The actions taken by farmers to control livestock diseases minimize some of these impacts, and heterogeneity in those actions leads to variation in prevalence at the farm level. While some farmers respond to perceived disease risks, others free-ride on the actions of these individuals, thereby compromising the potential benefits of collective, coordinated behavior. When evaluating a plausible range of disease cost to price of control ratios and assuming that farmers choose their privately optimal control effort, we demonstrate that achievement of a socially optimal disease control target is unlikely, occurring in <25% of all price-cost combinations. To achieve a socially optimal disease control outcome (reliant on farmers' voluntary actions), control policies must consider farmer heterogeneity, off-farm effects, and the predicted uptake of control measures under the assumption of optimized behavior.
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spelling pubmed-77238442020-12-14 Socially vs. Privately Optimal Control of Livestock Diseases: A Case for Integration of Epidemiology and Economics Mendes, Ângelo J. Haydon, Daniel T. McIntosh, Emma Hanley, Nick Halliday, Jo E. B. Front Vet Sci Veterinary Science This paper aims to illustrate the interdependencies between key epidemiological and economic factors that influence the control of many livestock infectious diseases. The factors considered here are (i) farmer heterogeneity (i.e., differences in how farmers respond to a perceived disease risk), (ii) off-farm effects of farmers' actions to control a disease (i.e., costs and benefits borne by agents that are external to the farm), and (iii) misalignment between privately and socially optimal control efforts (i.e., privately optimal behavior not conducive to a socially optimal outcome). Endemic chronic diseases cause a wide range of adverse social and economic impacts, particularly in low-income countries. The actions taken by farmers to control livestock diseases minimize some of these impacts, and heterogeneity in those actions leads to variation in prevalence at the farm level. While some farmers respond to perceived disease risks, others free-ride on the actions of these individuals, thereby compromising the potential benefits of collective, coordinated behavior. When evaluating a plausible range of disease cost to price of control ratios and assuming that farmers choose their privately optimal control effort, we demonstrate that achievement of a socially optimal disease control target is unlikely, occurring in <25% of all price-cost combinations. To achieve a socially optimal disease control outcome (reliant on farmers' voluntary actions), control policies must consider farmer heterogeneity, off-farm effects, and the predicted uptake of control measures under the assumption of optimized behavior. Frontiers Media S.A. 2020-11-25 /pmc/articles/PMC7723844/ /pubmed/33324694 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2020.558409 Text en Copyright © 2020 Mendes, Haydon, McIntosh, Hanley and Halliday. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Veterinary Science
Mendes, Ângelo J.
Haydon, Daniel T.
McIntosh, Emma
Hanley, Nick
Halliday, Jo E. B.
Socially vs. Privately Optimal Control of Livestock Diseases: A Case for Integration of Epidemiology and Economics
title Socially vs. Privately Optimal Control of Livestock Diseases: A Case for Integration of Epidemiology and Economics
title_full Socially vs. Privately Optimal Control of Livestock Diseases: A Case for Integration of Epidemiology and Economics
title_fullStr Socially vs. Privately Optimal Control of Livestock Diseases: A Case for Integration of Epidemiology and Economics
title_full_unstemmed Socially vs. Privately Optimal Control of Livestock Diseases: A Case for Integration of Epidemiology and Economics
title_short Socially vs. Privately Optimal Control of Livestock Diseases: A Case for Integration of Epidemiology and Economics
title_sort socially vs. privately optimal control of livestock diseases: a case for integration of epidemiology and economics
topic Veterinary Science
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7723844/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33324694
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2020.558409
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