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COVID-19 Information, Demand and Willingness to Pay for Protective Gear in the UK

Author

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  • Sonia Oreffice
  • Climent Quintana-Domeque

Abstract

In the first month of the UK first lockdown, we studied the demand and willingness to pay (WTP) for hand sanitizer gel, disposable face masks and disposable gloves, and how information on tested people and coronavirus deaths explains the demand and WTP for these products. The specific hypotheses to test and concrete questions to study were pre-registered in AsPredicted (#38962) on 10 April 2020, and an online survey was launched in Prolific on a sample of the UK general population representative by age, sex and ethnicity on 11 April 2020. We find that there is a demand for these products, estimate the average WTP for them, and show that the provision of information affected the demand (and WTP) for disposable face masks. Providing information on the numbers of coronavirus cumulative tested people and coronavirus cumulative deaths increases the stated demand for disposable face masks by about 8 percentage points [95% CI: 0.8, 15.1] and 11 percentage points [95% CI: 3.7, 18.2], respectively. JEL Classifications: C99, D12, I12, I18

Suggested Citation

  • Sonia Oreffice & Climent Quintana-Domeque, 2021. "COVID-19 Information, Demand and Willingness to Pay for Protective Gear in the UK," Studies in Microeconomics, , vol. 9(2), pages 180-195, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:miceco:v:9:y:2021:i:2:p:180-195
    DOI: 10.1177/23210222211045979
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • C99 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Other
    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health

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