Impact of self- or social-regarding health messages: Experimental evidence based on antibiotics purchases

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: He, Daixin; Lu, Fangwen; Yang, Jianan
• 署名单位: Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; Peking University; Stanford University
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0304-3878
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2023.103056
• 发表日期: 2023
• 关键词: Social-regarding message; antibiotics; field experiment

摘要

We study two interventions in Beijing, China, that provide patients with information on antibiotic resistance via text message to discourage the overuse of antibiotics. The messages were sent once a month for five months. One intervention emphasizes the threat to the recipient's own health and is found to have negligible effects. The other intervention, which highlights the overall threat to society, reduces antibiotics purchases by 17% in dosage without discouraging healthcare visits and other medicine purchases. The results demonstrate that prosocial messaging can have the potential to address public health issues that require collective action.