Coronavirus Perceptions and Economic Anxiety

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Fetzer, Thiemo; Hensel, Lukas; Hermle, Johannes; Roth, Christopher
• 署名单位: Centre for Economic Policy Research - UK; University of Warwick; Leibniz Association; Ifo Institut; Peking University; University of California System; University of California Berkeley; IZA Institute Labor Economics; University of Warwick; Centre for Economic Policy Research - UK
• 刊物名称: REVIEW OF ECONOMICS AND STATISTICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0034-6535
• DOI: 10.1162/rest_a_00946
• 发表日期: 2021-12
• 页码: 968-978
• 关键词: inflation-expectations; natural expectations; risk perception; experiences; smoking; HEALTH; SARS

摘要

We provide one of the first systematic assessments of the development and determinants of economic anxiety at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. Using a global data set on internet searches and two representative surveys from the United States, we document a substantial increase in economic anxiety during and after the arrival of the coronavirus. We also document a large dispersion in beliefs about the pandemic risk factors of the coronavirus and demonstrate that these beliefs causally affect individuals' economic anxieties. Finally, we show that individuals' mental models of infectious disease spread understate nonlinear growth and shape the extent of economic anxiety.