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The Potential Economic Costs of a Pandemic
May 7, 2009
WAGE senior fellow Professor Vicki Bier, WAGE affiliate Scientist Lorna Zach, and other colleagues authored a report on pandemic planning published last year by the Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services (DHFS). The report provides insight into when and whether to close schools, which businesses must stay open and which can close—and how the working poor may be affected by these decisions. It also contains the first-ever county-by-county projection of how a pandemic would affect Wisconsin economically, making it a tool for both public health officials and legislators.
 (Susan King, attorney consultant for the project and Vicki Bier. Photo from UW Madison College of Engineering.)The research is ultimately valuable, says Bier, because it brings awareness to the broad-ranging effects of a pandemic. “From here, we can do more detailed economic analysis and look at how we can create communities that are more resilient and capable to cope with these kinds of crises,” she says. Bier suggests that extended sick leave benefits, a moratorium on utility shut-offs, and disaster unemployment programs are possibilities to consider in preparation of an outbreak.
The 80-page report is available here.
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