The Economics of COVID-19

The covid-19 pandemic has affected us all along many dimensions. In this lecture Prof. Kurt Brekke will focus on the economics of the pandemic, including the working of pharmaceutical markets and governmental interventions. Topics to be covered are the vaccine innovation race, the distribution of vaccines across (poor and rich) countries, and the economic effects of government policies. What have we learned (so far) about economic policies toward pandemics?

Kurt R. Brekke is Head of Department (2021-25) and Professor in Economics (since 2009) at NHH Norwegian School of Economics.

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Brekke was Chief Economist at the Norwegian Competition Authority (2016-20), Head of the Centre for Business Economics at NHH (2020-21), Head of the IO & Competition Policy program at SNF (2014-16), and Co-manager at the Bergen Centre for Competition Law and Economics (2014-16, now). He is Research fellow at CESifo and has been Associate Editor for the Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization (2011-6) and member of the Governmental Committee on National Public Procurement Regulation (2012-2014). 

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His research fields are Industrial Organization with a particular focus on healthcare and pharmaceutical markets. He has published extensively in international journals, such as Journal of Public Economics, Journal of Health Economics, Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, European Economic Review, and has written several book chapters.

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Brekke received a PhD in Economics from the University of Bergen in 2004.