Discussion paper
DP4980 Can we Trust Private Firms as Suppliers of Vaccines for the Avian Influenza?
Using a simple monopoly model, this note analyses the incentives of a vaccine producer. Because a vaccine tends to eradicate the disease for which it is intended, it also tends to destroy its own market. This means that monopolistic producers may be tempted, in a socially non-optimal way, to delay the introduction of vaccines against new infections until the disease has spread.
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