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The role of inter-temporal biases in influencing individuals’ demand for social distancing

We examine the economic determinants for social distancing in the context of Covid-19. Previous economics studies document the important role behavioral biases could play in inter-temporal decision-making. Viewing health in an inter-temporal framework, individuals make health investment decisions in the present to maximize their lifetime utility. Behavioral biases, however, could influence the optimal demand for preventive healthcare and in particular their demand for social distancing. Using an online field experiment, we examine the extent to which various behavioral biases influence individual demand for social distancing.

Lead investigator:

Plamen Nikolov

Affiliation:

State University of New York (Binghamton)

Primary topic:

Attitudes, media & governance

Secondary topic:

Health, physical & mental

Region of data collection:

North America

Country of data collection

USA

Status of data collection

In Progress

Type of data being collected:

Field Experiment. Online/Phone Surveys

Unit of real-time data collection

Individual

Start date

4/2020

End date

8/2020

Frequency

Weekly

Read the results from this research