Health Externalities and Policy: The Role of Social Preferences

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Alfaro, Laura; Faia, Ester; Lamersdorf, Nora; Saidi, Farzad
• 署名单位: Harvard University; National Bureau of Economic Research; Goethe University Frankfurt; Centre for Economic Policy Research - UK; University of Bonn
• 刊物名称: MANAGEMENT SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0025-1909
• DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.2022.4461
• 发表日期: 2022
• 页码: 6751-6761
• 关键词: social preferences; Pandemics; mobility; health externalities; mitigation policies

摘要

Social preferences facilitate the internalization of health externalities, for example, by reducing mobility during a pandemic. We test this hypothesis using mobility data from 258 cities worldwide alongside experimentally validated measures of social preferences. Controlling for time-varying heterogeneity that could arise at the level at which mitigation policies are implemented, we find that they matter less in regions that are more altruistic, patient, or exhibit less negative reciprocity. In those regions, mobility falls ahead of lockdowns, and remains low after the lifting thereof. Our results elucidate the importance, independent of the cultural context, of social preferences in fostering cooperative behavior.