ERF 27th Annual Conference
Policy Responses, Social Norms, and Behavior Change in the Time of COVID-19
No.
ERF27_84
Publisher
ERF
Date
May, 2021
Topic
D9. Intertemporal Choice
I1. Health
Inducing behavior change is a missing factor in the face of emerging viral threats. Beyond containment and closure policies, cognitive and social factors are key determinants of the public intention to adopt precautionary behavior, such as adjusting their mobility. Using a difference-in-differences fixed-effects framework, we estimate the effects of government containment, closure, and economic policy responses to COVID-19 on changes in human mobility behavior in 132 countries, while accounting for the actual disease risk and the public perception of that risk. We also indicate how social norms, including risk taking, patience, and trust, explain the heterogenous effects of policy responses on behavior change. Our estimates show that the stringency of containment and closure policies decreases human mobility; economic policies lead to a less significant decline. Stronger adjustment in the public mobility behavior originates from their risk perception rather than being policy induced. Examining the heterogeneity in behavior change, we find that risk averse populations and those who exhibit more patience pre-act and lower their mobility independent of public policies. Economic support triggers negative behavioral change in high time-preference settings, where increased mobility is reported, contrary to settings where populations are more patient. Risk communication elicits positive behavioral change among risk-averse and impatient populations, who reduced their mobility; the effect varies by trust in others, specifically politicians.
Research Associates
Amira El-Shal
Acting Associate Director of Research, J-PAL MENA
Research Associates
Eman Moustafa
Research Manager, African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank)