This article explores the collective action problem of disease prevention by developing the conditions under which people engage in private means of mosquito control and malaria prevention. People are more likely to overcome problems related to collective action and free riding when they face...

Standard economic and public choice approaches to epidemiology ignore the role individuals play in disease prevention. Whereas one approach recognizes people respond to changing prevalence rates, another suggests they succumb to free riding and collective action problems. Following the...

This paper explores the connection between Hayek's dual problems of planning. Following Hayek we begin from the premise that the knowledge problem is ubiquitous. As Hayek argued, markets are effective at resolving the knowledge problem. However, where markets are absent, the knowledge problem...

At their arrival in North America, travelers from the Old Continent were exposed to a radically different civilization. Among the many practices that captured their imagination was scalp-taking. During battle, the Native American warrior would often stop after having killed or subdued the enemy...

This paper develops an economics-based explanation regarding the coordinating role informal norms play in preventing infectious diseases, with particular reference to HIV in the United States. Specifically, it highlights the way in which a set of informal norms, described as “the condom...

This paper reviews the economic literature on epidemiology, explores the collective action problem associated with disease prevention, and highlights the diverse formal and informal institutions that encourage preventative behavior. Within institutions of private sector firms, liability law, and...

Context: Despite governmental and international failures, concession firms in Liberia helped to prevent Ebola during the 2014-2015 epidemic. This essay explains the conditions under which these firms responded to the epidemic and helped to mitigate its spread. Focus is placed on the extent to...