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Stay-at-home orders and the willingness to stay home during the COVID-19 pandemic: A stated-preference discrete choice experiment

Author

Listed:
  • Liqing Li
  • Dede Long
  • Mani Rouhi Rad
  • Matthew R Sloggy

Abstract

The spread of COVID-19 in the Spring of 2020 prompted state and local governments to implement a variety of policies, including stay-at-home (SAH) orders and mandatory mask requirements, aimed at reducing the infection rate and the severity of the pandemic’s impact. We implement a discrete choice experiment survey in three major U.S. States—California, Georgia, and Illinois—to empirically quantify individuals’ willingness to stay (WTS) home, measured as the number of weeks of a potential new SAH order, to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 disease and explore factors leading to their heterogeneous WTS. Our results demonstrate broad support for statewide mask mandates. In addition, the estimate of WTS to lower new positive cases is quite large, approximately five and half weeks, even though staying home lowers utility. We also find that individuals recognize the trade-offs between case reduction and economic slowdown stemming from SAH orders when they decide to stay home or not. Finally, pandemic related factors such as age, ability to work from home, and unemployment status are the main drivers of the heterogeneity in individuals’ WTS.

Suggested Citation

  • Liqing Li & Dede Long & Mani Rouhi Rad & Matthew R Sloggy, 2021. "Stay-at-home orders and the willingness to stay home during the COVID-19 pandemic: A stated-preference discrete choice experiment," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(7), pages 1-20, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0253910
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0253910
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Gabriella Conti & Pamela Giustinelli, 2025. "For Better or Worse? Subjective Expectations and Cost‐Benefit Trade‐Offs in Health Behavior: An Application to Lockdown Compliance in the United Kingdom," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 34(5), pages 992-1012, May.
    3. Li, Liqing & Long, Dede, 2024. "Who values urban community gardens and how much?," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    4. Haghani, Milad & Bliemer, Michiel C.J. & de Bekker-Grob, Esther W., 2022. "Applications of discrete choice experiments in COVID-19 research: Disparity in survey qualities between health and transport fields," Journal of choice modelling, Elsevier, vol. 44(C).

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