Pricing decisions of converted and expanded enterprises for medical supplies under major public health emergencies

Background Major public health emergencies often trigger severe imbalances between the supply and demand of medical supplies, resulting in substantial price fluctuations and reduced allocation efficiency. The rapid entry of converted and capacity-expanding enterprises into medical supply production further complicates pricing dynamics, particularly under government intervention policies. Methods To investigate optimal pricing decisions under emergency conditions, this study integrates an epidemiological SEIR framework with an economic decision model and develops a Stackelberg game involving converted and expanded manufacturers under government subsidy schemes. Pricing strategies are compared under decentralized competitive and centralized cooperative scenarios to evaluate differences in market outcomes and welfare performance. Results The data suggest that decentralized competition among businesses results in inflated prices and diminished efficiency in resource allocation. Conversely, co