Description

Diwakar GuptaDr. Diwakar Gupta
Professor, Department of Information, Risk, and Operations Management McCombs School of Business,
The University of Texas at Austin

"Understanding Federal and State Authorities' Disagreement Over the Allocation of Critical Equipment Inventory During the COVID-19 Pandemic"

Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, a disagreement between federal and regional governments erupted in the public arena. It was about the allocation from the federally held stockpile of critical-equipment (CE) inventory, specifically the ventilator inventory. Regional governments wanted certainty about their allocations, while the federal government kept allocation information ambiguous. In this talk, I will present a game-theoretic model of how allocation ambiguity affects two regional decisions: how much effort to exert to reduce infection spread and how much critical equipment to purchase independently. The analysis helps explain why allocation disagreements arise. I will also discuss extensions involving post-allocation redistribution and how these strategies affect federal and regional decision makers’ preferences.

Biography

Diwakar Gupta holds an appointment as the INBA–Stuart Centennial Professor of Information, Risk, and Operations Management at the McCombs School of Business of The University of Texas at Austin. His research spans healthcare operations, supply chain finance and risk management, and inventory and revenue management. He serves as the departmental editor of healthcare operations department at the Naval Research Logistics journal and as senior editor of healthcare operations management department at the POM journal. He teaches healthcare analytics at UT Austin.

Featuring: Dr. Diwakar Gupta

Start Date & Time

September 25, 2026 11:15 AM - 12:45 PM

iCal/Outlook

Location

Business Building 1.01.20L

Category:

Campus Events