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arXiv · 2206.02222

How does a Rational Agent Act in an Epidemic?

S. Yagiz Olmez·Shubham Aggarwal·Jin Won Kim·Erik Miehling·Tamer Başar·Matthew West·Prashant G. Mehta
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Abstract

Evolution of disease in a large population is a function of the top-down policy measures from a centralized planner, as well as the self-interested decisions (to be socially active) of individual agents in a large heterogeneous population. This paper is concerned with understanding the latter based on a mean-field type optimal control model. Specifically, the model is used to investigate the role of partial information on an agent's decision-making, and study the impact of such decisions by a large number of agents on the spread of the virus in the population. The motivation comes from the presymptomatic and asymptomatic spread of the COVID-19 virus where an agent unwittingly spreads the virus. We show that even in a setting with fully rational agents, limited information on the viral state can result in an epidemic growth.

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S. Yagiz Olmez, Shubham Aggarwal, Jin Won Kim, Erik Miehling, Tamer Başar, Matthew West, Prashant G. Mehta. 2022-06-05. How does a Rational Agent Act in an Epidemic?. https://arxiv.org/abs/2206.02222

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