  We consider a possibility of socioeconomic collapse caused by the spread of
epidemic in a basic dynamical model with negative feedback between the infected
population size and a formal collective economic resource. The
epidemic-resource coupling is supposed to be of activation type, with the
recovery rate governed by the Arrhenius-like law and resource playing the role
of temperature. Such a coupling can result in the collapsing effect opposite to
thermal explosion because of the limited resource. In this case, the system can
no longer stabilize and return to the stable pre- or post-epidemic states. We
demonstrate that such a collapse can partially be mitigated by means of a
negative resource or debt.
