PAST EVENT
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
12:30 PM to 1:30 PM
Washington, DC
As the nation and the world continue to grapple with H1N1, and while delivery of the vaccine in the United States faces delays, school closures are one policy tool under consideration to slow spread of the pandemic. Ross Hammond, co-author of a recent report that quantified the economic effects of school closures, and Fred Barbash, Politico senior editor, answered questions in a live web chat about the implications and potential costs of this approach. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Ross A. Hammond, October 21, 2009, The Brookings Institution
As the nation and the world continue to grapple with H1N1, and while delivery of the vaccine in the United States faces delays, school closures are one policy tool under consideration to slow spread of the pandemic. Ross Hammond, co-author of a recent report that quantified the economic effects of school closures, and Fred Barbash, Politico senior editor, took questions in a live web chat about the implications and potential costs of this approach. Read More
VIDEO
Joshua M. Epstein, October 05, 2009
The Center on Social and Economic Dynamics at Brookings has released a comprehensive report on the economic impact of closing schools and day care centers to help mitigate the infection rate of the H1N1 virus. Center director Joshua Epstein highlights some of the study’s findings and notes that the cost for such closures could be substantial.
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Howard Lempel, Ross A. Hammond and Joshua M. Epstein, September 30, 2009, The Brookings Institution
Policymakers are looking at school closures to contain the spread of an H1N1 influenza outbreak. In the first comprehensive U.S. study of the economic cost of school and daycare center closures, the Center on Social and Economic Dynamics at Brookings finds that closing all schools in the United States for four weeks could cost up to $47 billion and lead to a reduction of up to 17% in key health care personnel. Read More
VIDEO
Joshua M. Epstein, August 18, 2009
Experts are bracing for an extremely high H1N1 flu infection rate this fall and winter. Joshua Epstein says computer modeling can help the medical community and policy-makers predict which populations are most susceptible to infection, how great the infection rate will be and how to stem the spread of the virus.
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Joshua M. Epstein, August 06, 2009, Nature
Joshua M. Epstein explains that agent-based computational models can capture irrational behaviour, complex social networks and global scale — all essential in confronting H1N1. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Walter Kälin, June 22, 2009, UNAIDS Coordinating Board Meeting
The phenomenon of internal displacement, affecting between 24-26 million people, combined with the estimated 10.5 million refugees worldwide, has been characterized by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon as "arguably the most significant humanitarian challenge we face." Further, as Walter Kälin points out, this challenge is even more serious where it overlaps with other key humanitarian challenges such as the global AIDS epidemic, whose impact on the internally displaced is unclear. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Warwick J. McKibbin, May 04, 2009, The Brookings Institution
As swine flu continues to spread in the United States and globally, fears of a pandemic have contributed to stock market decline as many industries suffer from a lack of public confidence. Warwick McKibbin analyzes the impact on the global economy and says the next few weeks are critical to assess whether the world will see further economic decline. Read More
VIDEO
Ross A. Hammond, April 28, 2009
With cases of swine flu rising in the United States and around the world, health officials are taking action to contain the spread and severity of the disease. Brookings Fellow Ross Hammond discussed the artificial society models he has helped develop that can aid professionals in better understanding how to prepare for and react to epidemics.
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Warwick J. McKibbin and Alexandra A. Sidorenko, April 28, 2009, Foreign Policy - The Argument
Fearing the swine flu outbreak may lead to pandemic, stock markets have declined and tourism, food and transportation industries are suffering from a lack of public confidence. Brookings expert Warwick McKibbin and Alexandra A. Sidorenko offer insight into what type of reactions we could see from the global economy. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Joshua M. Epstein, Jon Parker, Derek Cummings and Ross A. Hammond, December 15, 2008, PLoS One Journal
In classical mathematical epidemiology, individuals do not adapt their contact behavior during epidemics. They do not endogenously engage, for example, in social distancing based on fear. Yet, adaptive behavior is well-documented in true epidemics. Joshua M. Epstein, Jon Parker, Derek Cummings, and Ross A. Hammond explore the effect of including such behavior in models of epidemic dynamics. Read More
VIDEO
Joshua M. Epstein, December 02, 2008
Brookings’s Center on Social and Economic Dynamics has pioneered a model that forecasts how infectious diseases like the flu spread. Center director Joshua Epstein says the Obama administration should use modeling to avert pandemic outbreaks and restore faith in the public health system.
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Joshua M. Epstein, April 02, 2008, Federal News Radio AM 1050
With the possibility of a national or international emergency, people need to know how to best be prepared. Joshua M. Epstein discusses how agent-based computational modeling has the ability to create artificial societies to model human behavior in an emergency situation. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Warwick J. McKibbin and Alexandra A. Sidorenko, July 15, 2007, The Milken Institute Review Volume 9, Number 3
McKibbin and Sidorenko explore ways to estimate the economic consequences of pandemics, based on computer simulations incorporating what we know about influenza transmission and the likely response by governments, as well as by markets. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Joshua M. Epstein, D. Michael Goedecke, Feng Yu, Robert J. Morris, Diane K. Wagener and Georgiy Bobashev, May 15, 2007, PLoS ONE
Report by Joshua M. Epstein, D. Michael Goedecke, Feng Yu, Robert J. Morris, Diane K. Wagener, and Georgiy V. Bobashev (May 2007) Read More