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From an economic point of view, two properties of an epidemic are particularly relevant: On the one hand, the so-called external effects, which arise when people do not fully consider the effects of their personal behavior on others and on the health system and therefore do not do enough on their own prevent the virus from spreading.
This makes government regulations such as curfews necessary.
On the other hand, there are information problems: the better infected people can be recognized and identified, the easier it is to interrupt the chain of spread of the virus.
Tests and proof of vaccination help to improve the information situation.
Germany has come through the crisis quite well so far.
The website "Our world in data" of the University of Oxford, a popular source for international comparisons, lists Germany alongside South Korea, Vietnam and New Zealand as an example of successful crisis management.
Here you can scream out your anger and test yourself at the same time
Why not use the frustration with the corona pandemic sensibly?
This is what the inventors of a new test procedure thought.
Germany's first walking test booth is in Remscheid.
Source: WORLD / Max Hermes
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And indeed, the Federal Republic is doing comparatively well overall.
The death rate and the economic slump are limited, industrial activity has picked up speed again, and unemployment has been relatively stable since the beginning of the crisis, thanks to various state subsidies such as short-time working benefits.
As far as vaccination is concerned, Germany is now making pretty good progress compared to other EU countries.
Germany only lags behind when it comes to testing.
And this increases the risk of wasting previous successes.
Testing can be an important part of overcoming the coronavirus pandemic information problem.
Although testing has now become common in schools, negative test results are a prerequisite for visiting many shops and individual cities have even developed a test strategy to revitalize inner cities, testing still does not have the status it should have in combating crises.
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In the statistics of “Our world in data”, Germany is one of the laggards in a European comparison.
France has about twice as many tests per inhabitant, the United Kingdom more than four times as many.
Since the infection rate is different in the countries, a comparison of the proportions of positive tests is more meaningful, as these show the extent of the testing in relation to the extent of the corona outbreak.
Those who show a higher proportion of positive tests test relatively less.
According to WHO criteria, a proportion of less than five percent is one of the indicators that the epidemic in a country is under control.
With a current value of 13 percent positive tests, Germany has some catching up to do.
Finland, Portugal and Denmark have values below five percent.
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Only now has the federal government introduced a test offer for companies in the Corona Occupational Safety and Health Ordinance - against strong criticism from business.
Employees who do not work exclusively from home should be entitled to two test offers per week in the company.
At the same time, the currently amended Infection Protection Act stipulates that employers should offer their employees the opportunity to work from home as far as possible, and employees must also accept this option "provided there are no reasons against it on their part".
Obligation to work from home - however, employees are not required to test.
Social partners are required
But here, too, the external effects take effect: There are many individual reasons for testing, such as protecting the family and work colleagues;
However, this does not necessarily include avoiding the formation of sources of infection in companies, the subsequent infections outside of the companies and the resulting overloading of the health system.
It should therefore not remain with a simple test offer, further incentives for testing up to the expansion of the test obligation in certain situations will be necessary.
However, the social partners are also required to develop this test strategy - overcoming the information problem and the problem of external effects is a joint task.
The author is the President of ZEW