Infectious diseases induce externalities in private choices about prevention and therapy. An improvement in either the technology of prevention or therapy may lead private agents to decrease their preventive or therapeutic efforts, a phenomenon termed disinhibition by epidemiologists. If governments cannot or do not adopt interventions to internalize these externalities, a technological improve...

The main purpose of rational choice theory is to lay out in clear and transparent terms what conditions are necessary and/or sufficient for the validity of statements about consistent human behavior. Strong criteria for rationality are ‘wrong’ if understood as a positive description. However, their very strength provides a sharp guide for experimental social science’s project of mapping the pro...