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Using Donald Trump's COVID-19 Vaccine Endorsement to Give Public Health a Shot in the Arm: A Large-Scale Ad Experiment

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Listed:
  • Bradley J. Larsen
  • Timothy J. Ryan
  • Steven Greene
  • Marc J. Hetherington
  • Rahsaan Maxwell
  • Steven Tadelis

Abstract

We report a large-scale randomized controlled trial designed to assess whether the partisan cue of a pro-vaccine message from Donald Trump would induce Americans to get COVID-19 vaccines. Our study involved presenting a 27-second advertisement to millions of U.S. YouTube users in October 2021. Results indicate that the campaign increased the number of vaccines in the average treated county by 103. Spread across 1,014 treated counties, the total effect of the campaign was an estimated increase of 104,036 vaccines. The campaign was cost-effective: with an overall budget of about \$100,000, the cost to obtain an additional vaccine was about \$1 or less.

Suggested Citation

  • Bradley J. Larsen & Timothy J. Ryan & Steven Greene & Marc J. Hetherington & Rahsaan Maxwell & Steven Tadelis, 2022. "Using Donald Trump's COVID-19 Vaccine Endorsement to Give Public Health a Shot in the Arm: A Large-Scale Ad Experiment," Papers 2203.02625, arXiv.org, revised Mar 2022.
    • Handle: RePEc:arx:papers:2203.02625
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    1. Allcott, Hunt & Boxell, Levi & Conway, Jacob & Gentzkow, Matthew & Thaler, Michael & Yang, David, 2020. "Polarization and public health: Partisan differences in social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    2. John Manuel Barrios & Yael V. Hochberg, 2020. "Risk Perception Through the Lens of Politics in the Time of the COVID-19 Pandemic," Working Papers 2020-32, Becker Friedman Institute for Research In Economics.
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