Networks

This article discusses how game theory can help prevent disease outbreaks. When passengers exhibit flu-like symptoms on airplanes, the plane is grounded and quarantined. This article argues that this is not the best strategy for preventing disease outbreaks. This article uses game theory to understand the actions of the governments versus the public.

Game theory predicts how an individual chooses different strategies based on the actions of the group. The article uses vaccination as an example to show that vaccines have pros and they have cons, and it is up to the families to decide whether the pros outweigh the cons. If every family gets vaccinated, then the family may not need to get vaccinated because they will not come in contact with it, so the better option in this case would be to not be vaccinated. It is also possible that every family thinks like this and none of the families get vaccinated, which causes the better option to be getting vaccinated.

The article goes on to use game theory to explain how the best strategy for an individual can differ from the best strategy for the public, and an outbreak can be a result of this. Travel restrictions is something else that involves different strategies, and the Ebola epidemic is an example that highlights this. While no flights happened at the time, studies show that this only delayed Ebola, and stopping the flights negatively impacted the people who needed help.

The article argues that in situations like these, it is best to reach a Nash equilibrium, where the individual and the public strategies are the same, and that this happens when people are joining and leaving a population.

In class, we discussed game theory, and Nash equilibrium with several examples, such as prisoners dilemma, and the hawk-dove game, as well as the two countries situation. This article talks about some of the strategies discussed in class, as well as the different payoffs for the people versus the public. This article also claims that the best situation is when a Nash equilibrium

 is reached, like we concluded in class.