One measure of the ex ante cost of disasters is the welfare gain from shortening their expected duration. We introduce a stochastic clock into a standard disaster model that summarizes information about progress (positive or negative) towards disaster resolution. We show that the stock market...

We evaluate quartile rankings of countries during the Covid-19 pandemic using both official (confirmed) and excess mortality data. By December 2021, the quartile rankings of three-fifths of the countries differ when ranked by excess vs. official mortality. Countries that are ‘doing...

This paper examines the effects of state-level adult and child seasonal flu vaccination rates on hourly real wages for women. Using an IV method to address possible endogeneity, we find a significantly positive effect of adult vaccination on women’s wages. Furthermore, we show that this effect...

I investigate the effect of social capital on the vaccination decision-making among the French population during the COVID-19 pandemic. To the best of my knowledge, it is the first paper that makes a dynamic analysis on the role of social capital on vaccinations. By utilising geographical...

This paper studies the historical roots of vaccine hesitancy in the context of Germany. Using digitized data on the existence of naturopathic associations in Germany in the year 1900, we first show that counties with a large number of naturopathic associations in 1900 were disproportionally...

What is the return to COVID-19 vaccine innovation? This paper seeks to quantify both private and social returns, using available data on commercialized vaccines and certain assumptions about the pandemic’s epidemiological path as well as the economic costs of containment measures. The...

We study socio-economic determinants of parental willingness to vaccinate themselves and their children against COVID-19 in Germany. We find that better educated parents are more likely to vaccinate both themselves as well as their children. Own experience with restrictions due to Corona...

Vaccination willingness against COVID-19 is generally perceived as too low. Moreover, there is large heterogeneity across and within countries. As a whole, Germany has average vaccination rates compared to other industrialized countries. However, vaccination rates in the 16 different German...

The frequency of viral outbreaks and pandemics in the last two decades, including the current COVID pandemic, has focussed attention on Canada’s pandemic preparedness generally and its pandemic vaccine development and production self-sufficiency, in particular. As Canada faced disruptions in...

The COVID-19 outbreak is one of the most significant public health crises in modern history, with considerable effects on the agendas of governments. Non-pharmaceutical interventions and vaccination campaigns have been designed first and foremost to protect vulnerable groups. However, political...