Washington Post: Larry Summers: How finance can fight disease epidemics
Lawrence H. Summers, Charles W. Eliot university professor at Harvard and former treasury secretary and director of the National Economic Council in the White House

“During the annual IMF-World Bank meetings last week in Lima, Peru, I was part of a discussion on a proposed pandemic emergency financing facility. … The idea under discussion is a potentially powerful one: some public entity would issue bonds to investors which would be deemed to default in the event of an epidemic, assuring the availability of resources to respond before the epidemic takes on pandemic proportions. … But there are two hurdles that will have to be overcome if this initiative is to succeed. … First, a suitable price has to be found for these bonds: a price that works for both investors and for those who will issue them. … Second, a suitable contract has to be drafted specifying when exactly the bonds will default. … I think these problems are solvable…” (10/14).