IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/arx/papers/2506.19056.html

Self-selection of Information and Belief Update: An Experiment on COVID-19 Vaccine Information Acquisition

Author

Listed:
  • ChienHsun Lin
  • Hans H. Tung

Abstract

How does the endogenous selection of information shape belief formation? In observational settings, individuals only consume information they choose, making it impossible to observe how they would respond to information they actively avoid. We address this identification challenge using a randomized experiment on COVID-19 vaccines in Taiwan. After eliciting subjects' preferences over vaccine-specific reports, we randomly assign them to receive either their chosen or unchosen information, orthogonalizing selection from exposure. We find subjects are more likely to select information about vaccines they already perceive as more effective. Conditional on receiving information, belief updating is substantially larger when the information was self-selected, even after controlling for prior-posterior disagreement. These findings highlight endogenous information demand as a central determinant of persuasion, suggesting that increasing information availability alone may be insufficient when individuals rationally filter out options they perceive as less relevant to their decision-making.

Suggested Citation

  • ChienHsun Lin & Hans H. Tung, 2025. "Self-selection of Information and Belief Update: An Experiment on COVID-19 Vaccine Information Acquisition," Papers 2506.19056, arXiv.org, revised Mar 2026.
    • Handle: RePEc:arx:papers:2506.19056
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://arxiv.org/pdf/2506.19056
    File Function: Latest version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mitchell Hoffman, 2016. "How is Information Valued? Evidence from Framed Field Experiments," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 126(595), pages 1884-1911, September.
    2. Jay van Bavel & Aleksandra Cichocka & Valerio Capraro & Hallgeir Sjåstad & John Nezlek & Tomislav Pavlović & Mark Alfano & Michele Gelfand & Flavio Azevedo & Michèle Birtel & Aleksandra Cislak & Patri, 2022. "National identity predicts public health support during a global pandemic," Post-Print hal-03585623, HAL.
    3. 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).
    4. Andreas Fuster & Ricardo Perez-Truglia & Mirko Wiederholt & Basit Zafar, 2022. "Expectations with Endogenous Information Acquisition: An Experimental Investigation," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 104(5), pages 1059-1078, December.
    5. Jay J. Bavel & Aleksandra Cichocka & Valerio Capraro & Hallgeir Sjåstad & John B. Nezlek & Tomislav Pavlović & Mark Alfano & Michele J. Gelfand & Flavio Azevedo & Michèle D. Birtel & Aleksandra Cislak, 2022. "National identity predicts public health support during a global pandemic," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-14, December.
    6. Jay J. Bavel & Aleksandra Cichocka & Valerio Capraro & Hallgeir Sjåstad & John B. Nezlek & Tomislav Pavlović & Mark Alfano & Michele J. Gelfand & Flavio Azevedo & Michèle D. Birtel & Aleksandra Cislak, 2022. "National identity predicts public health support during a global pandemic," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-14, December.
    7. Jay Joseph van Bavel & Aleksandra Cichocka & Valerio Capraro & Hallgeir Sjåstad & John Nezlek & Tomislav Pavlović & Mark Alfano & Michele Gelfand & Flavio Azevedo & Michèle Birtel & Aleksandra Cislak , 2022. "National identity predicts public health support during a global pandemic: Results from 67 nations," Post-Print hal-03543504, HAL.
    8. Jay J. Van Bavel, 2022. "National Identity Predicts Public Health Support During A Global Pandemic," HKUST IEMS Working Paper Series 2022-81, HKUST Institute for Emerging Market Studies, revised Jul 2022.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Borau, Sylvie & Couprie, Hélène & Hopfensitz, Astrid, 2022. "The prosociality of married people: Evidence from a large multinational sample," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    2. Barceló, Joan & Sheen, Greg Chih-Hsin & Tung, Hans H. & Wu, Wen-Chin, 2022. "Vaccine nationalism among the public: A cross-country experimental evidence of own-country bias towards COVID-19 vaccination," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 310(C).
    3. Tung, Hans H. & Chang, Teng-Jen & Lin, Ming-Jen, 2022. "Political ideology predicts preventative behaviors and infections amid COVID-19 in democracies," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 308(C).
    4. John (Jianqiu) Bai & Shuili Du & Wang Jin & Chi Wan, 2023. "Is social capital associated with individual social responsibility? The case of social distancing during the Covid-19 pandemic," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 64(4), pages 1861-1896, April.
    5. Akfırat, Serap & Bayrak, Fatih & Üzümçeker, Emir & Ergiyen, Tolga & Yurtbakan, Taylan & Uysal, Mete Sefa, 2023. "The roles of social norms and leadership in health communication in the context of COVID-19," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 323(C).
    6. Fang, Ming & Lai, Weizheng & Xia, Congling, 2025. "Anti-corruption and political trust: Evidence from China," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 234(C).
    7. Christian T. Elbæk & Panagiotis Mitkidis & Lene Aarøe & Tobias Otterbring, 2023. "Subjective socioeconomic status and income inequality are associated with self-reported morality across 67 countries," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-14, December.
    8. Yong Ge & Xilin Wu & Wenbin Zhang & Xiaoli Wang & Die Zhang & Jianghao Wang & Haiyan Liu & Zhoupeng Ren & Nick W. Ruktanonchai & Corrine W. Ruktanonchai & Eimear Cleary & Yongcheng Yao & Amy Wesolowsk, 2023. "Effects of public-health measures for zeroing out different SARS-CoV-2 variants," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-12, December.
    9. Elena Fumagalli & Candelaria Belén Krick & Marina Belén Dolmatzian & Julieta Edith Del Negro & Joaquin Navajas, 2023. "Partisanship predicts COVID-19 vaccine brand preference: the case of Argentina," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-10, December.
    10. repec:jdm:journl:v:17:y:2022:i:4:p:720-744 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Peter Adu & Tomas Jurcik & Emmanuel Demah & Patrick T Korang & Dmitry Grigoryev, 2024. "Mental health literacy for social phobia in Ghana: Investigation of gender stereotypes and previous experience for recognition rates and prejudice," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 70(2), pages 271-281, March.
    12. Ma, Mac Zewei & Chen, Sylvia Xiaohua & Wang, Xijing, 2024. "Collective pronouns, collective health actions: Predicting pandemic precautionary measures through online first-person plural pronoun usage across U.S. states," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 357(C).
    13. Xiping Wang & Surinderpal Kaur & Noor Aqsa Nabila Mat Isa & Sheena Kaur, 2024. "Image restoration strategies in pandemic crisis communication: a comparative analysis of Chinese and American COVID-19 political speeches," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-13, December.
    14. Xiaoyan Mu & Xiaohu Zhang & Anthony Gar-On Yeh & Yang Yu & Jiejing Wang, 2023. "Structural Changes in Human Mobility Under the Zero-COVID Strategy in China," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 50(9), pages 2527-2542, November.
    15. Saville, Christopher W.N. & Mann, Robin & Lockard, Anthony Scott & Bark-Connell, Aidan & Gabuljah, Stella Gmekpebi & Young, April M. & Thomas, Daniel Rhys, 2024. "Covid and the common good: In-group out-group dynamics and Covid-19 vaccination in Wales and the United States," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 352(C).
    16. Esmonde, Katelyn & Jones, Jeff & Johns, Michaela & Hutler, Brian & Faden, Ruth & Barnhill, Anne, 2024. "“Lives versus livelihoods”: Conflict and coherence between policy objectives in the COVID-19 pandemic," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 357(C).
    17. François, Abel & Gergaud, Olivier & Noury, Abdul, 2023. "Can health passport overcome political hurdles to COVID-19 vaccination?," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    18. Jaroslaw Kantorowicz, 2023. "Testing public reaction to constitutional fiscal rules violations," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 34(4), pages 483-509, December.
    19. Francesco Capozza & Ingar Haaland & Christopher Roth & Johannes Wohlfart, 2022. "Recent Advances in Studies of News Consumption," ECONtribute Discussion Papers Series 204, University of Bonn and University of Cologne, Germany.
    20. Darya Korlyakova, 2021. "Learning about Ethnic Discrimination from Different Information Sources," CERGE-EI Working Papers wp689, The Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education - Economics Institute, Prague.
    21. Kuang, Pei & Luca, Davide & Wei, Zhiwu, 2025. "Ballots, Budgets and Bricks: Brexit and the Polarisation of Individual Economic Behaviours," MPRA Paper 125104, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:arx:papers:2506.19056. 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: arXiv administrators (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://arxiv.org/ .

    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.