IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0253910.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

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
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0253910
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0253910&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0253910?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Edward L. Glaeser & Caitlin S. Gorback & Stephen J. Redding, 2020. "How Much Does COVID-19 Increase with Mobility? Evidence from New York and Four Other U.S. Cities," Working Papers 2020-22, Princeton University. Economics Department..
    2. David G. Blanchflower & Alex Bryson, 2020. "Unemployment Disrupts Sleep," DoQSS Working Papers 20-13, Quantitative Social Science - UCL Social Research Institute, University College London.
    3. Daron Acemoglu & Victor Chernozhukov & Ivàn Werning & Michael D. Whinston, 2020. "A Multi-Risk SIR Model with Optimally Targeted Lockdown," CeMMAP working papers CWP14/20, Centre for Microdata Methods and Practice, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    4. Andrew Atkeson, 2020. "What Will Be the Economic Impact of COVID-19 in the US? Rough Estimates of Disease Scenarios," NBER Working Papers 26867, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Stephen C. Newbold & David Finnoff & Linda Thunström & Madison Ashworth & Jason F. Shogren, 2020. "Effects of Physical Distancing to Control COVID-19 on Public Health, the Economy, and the Environment," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 76(4), pages 705-729, August.
    6. Ben Balmford & James D. Annan & Julia C. Hargreaves & Marina Altoè & Ian J. Bateman, 2020. "Cross-Country Comparisons of Covid-19: Policy, Politics and the Price of Life," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 76(4), pages 525-551, August.
    7. Thunström, Linda & Newbold, Stephen C. & Finnoff, David & Ashworth, Madison & Shogren, Jason F., 2020. "The Benefits and Costs of Using Social Distancing to Flatten the Curve for COVID-19," Journal of Benefit-Cost Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 11(2), pages 179-195, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Besarta Veseli & Rouven Seifert & Michel Clement & Edlira Shehu, 2025. "Trading-off health safety, civil liberties, and unemployment based on communication strategies: the social dilemma in fighting pandemics," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 20(3), pages 1-17, March.
    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).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gros, Claudius & Gros, Daniel, 2022. "The economics of stop-and-go epidemic control," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    2. Luciana Echazu & Diego C. Nocetti, 2020. "Willingness to pay for morbidity and mortality risk reductions during an epidemic. Theory and preliminary evidence from COVID-19," The Geneva Risk and Insurance Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association for the Study of Insurance Economics (The Geneva Association), vol. 45(2), pages 114-133, September.
    3. Shenoy, Ajay & Sharma, Bhavyaa & Xu, Guanghong & Kapoor, Rolly & Rho, Haedong Aiden & Sangha, Kinpritma, 2022. "God is in the rain: The impact of rainfall-induced early social distancing on COVID-19 outbreaks," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    4. Davide Torre & Danilo Liuzzi & Rosario Maggistro & Simone Marsiglio, 2022. "Mobility Choices and Strategic Interactions in a Two-Group Macroeconomic–Epidemiological Model," Dynamic Games and Applications, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 110-132, March.
    5. Ichino, Andrea & Favero, Carlo A. & Rustichini, Aldo, 2020. "Restarting the economy while saving lives under Covid-19," CEPR Discussion Papers 14664, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    6. Brandily, Paul & Brébion, Clément & Briole, Simon & Khoury, Laura, 2021. "A poorly understood disease? The impact of COVID-19 on the income gradient in mortality over the course of the pandemic," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    7. Terrence Iverson & Edward Barbier, 2021. "National and Sub-National Social Distancing Responses to COVID-19," Economies, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-15, May.
    8. La Torre, Davide & Liuzzi, Danilo & Marsiglio, Simone, 2021. "Epidemics and macroeconomic outcomes: Social distancing intensity and duration," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    9. Jesper Akesson & Sam Ashworth-Hayes & Robert Hahn & Robert Metcalfe & Itzhak Rasooly, 2022. "Fatalism, beliefs, and behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 64(2), pages 147-190, April.
    10. Giorgio Fabbri & Salvatore Federico & Davide Fiaschi & Fausto Gozzi, 2024. "Mobility decisions, economic dynamics and epidemic," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 77(1), pages 495-531, February.
    11. Lin William Cong & Ke Tang & Bing Wang & Jingyuan Wang, 2021. "An AI-assisted Economic Model of Endogenous Mobility and Infectious Diseases: The Case of COVID-19 in the United States," Papers 2109.10009, arXiv.org.
    12. Timo Boppart & Karl Harmenberg & John Hassler & Per Krusell & Jonna Olsson, 2020. "Integrated Epi-Econ Assessment," NBER Working Papers 28282, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Ricardo Hausmann & Ulrich Schetter, 2020. "Horrible Trade-offs in a Pandemic: Lockdowns, Transfers, Fiscal Space, and Compliance," CID Working Papers 382, Center for International Development at Harvard University.
    14. Fabian Stephany & Michael Dunn & Steven Sawyer & Vili Lehdonvirta, 2020. "Distancing Bonus Or Downscaling Loss? The Changing Livelihood of Us Online Workers in Times of COVID‐19," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 111(3), pages 561-573, July.
    15. Mellacher, Patrick, 2020. "COVID-Town: An Integrated Economic-Epidemiological Agent-Based Model," MPRA Paper 103661, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Augeraud-Véron, Emmanuelle & Fabbri, Giorgio & Schubert, Katheline, 2021. "Prevention and mitigation of epidemics: Biodiversity conservation and confinement policies," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    17. André de Palma & Nathalie Picard & Stef Proost, 2021. "SCARE: when Economics meets Epidemiology with COVID-19, first wave," THEMA Working Papers 2021-10, THEMA (THéorie Economique, Modélisation et Applications), Université de Cergy-Pontoise.
    18. Bosi, Stefano & Camacho, Carmen & Desmarchelier, David, 2021. "Optimal lockdown in altruistic economies," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    19. Garriga, Carlos & Manuelli, Rody & Sanghi, Siddhartha, 2022. "Optimal management of an epidemic: Lockdown, vaccine and value of life," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    20. Thomas Kruse & Philipp Strack, 2020. "Optimal Control of an Epidemic through Social Distancing," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 2229R, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University, revised Jul 2020.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0253910. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.