By Allison Stashko

A rational choice-based model for sexual transmission of HIV demonstrates the behavioral and epidemiological effects of public health interventions. Susceptible individuals choose to protect or expose, both responding to and determining HIV prevalence. Interventions are modeled as exogenous shocks to the cost of protection, treatment coverage, and treatment quality. A prevention intervention is more effective when infected individuals are better off. Specifically, treatment interventions increase the elasticity of behavioral change with respect to the cost of protection. Complementary effects between different types of interventions are important for finding an optimal public health HIV strategy.

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Advisor: Curtis Taylor | JEL Codes: D61, D69, D91 | Tagged: Epidemiology, HIV/AIDS, Microeconomics