How does an epidemic affect individuals' expectation on economic prospects? We implement an incentivized longitudinal online survey with randomized controlled trials during the Covid-19 epidemic in China to answer this question. We find that lower number of confirmed Covid-19 cases significantly increases individual’s expectation on GDP growth. However, individuals do not update their expectations when information on work resumption rate is provided in the RCT. Our finding conveys the message that, during an epidemic, containing the spread of the disease should be prioritized than resuming economic activities, at least from the perspective of maintaining positive economic expectations among individuals.
Lead investigator: | Keyang Li |
Affiliation: | Tsinghua University, China |
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Start date | 2/2020 |
End date | 3/2020 |
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