Firm behavior during an epidemic.

We derive a model in which firms operate in an epidemic environment and internalize infections among their employees in the workplace. The model is calibrated to fit the moments of the Covid-19 epidemic. We show that firms have incentives to fight against infections and can do so very effectively by increasing teleworking and rotating employees between on-site work, teleworking, and leave.

Slums and pandemics.

How do slums shape the economic and health dynamics of pandemics? A difference-in-differences analysis using millions of mobile phones in Brazil shows that residents of overcrowded slums engaged in less social distancing after the outbreak of Covid-19. We develop and calibrate a choice-theoretic equilibrium model in which individuals are heterogeneous in income and some people live in high-density slums. Slum residents account for a disproportionately high number of infections and deaths and, without slums, deaths increase in non-slum neighborhoods.

Vaccines and variants: A comment on "optimal age-based vaccination and economic mitigation policies for the second phase of the Covid-19 pandemic".

This note discusses age-specific vaccination programs designed to curb the Covid-19 pandemic. We first provide some comments on the analysis by Glover et al. (2021b) and point directions where further research can be carried out.