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) |
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Start date | 4/2020 |
End date | 8/2020 |
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