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Social Connections and COVID-19 Vaccination

Author

Listed:
  • Basu, Arnab K.

    (Cornell University)

  • Chau, Nancy H.

    (Cornell University)

  • Firsin, Oleg

    (Cornell University)

Abstract

This paper unpacks the effects of social networks on monthly county-level COVID19 vaccinations in the US. To parse out short-term community-level externalities where people help each other overcome immediate access barriers, from learning spillovers regarding vaccine efficacy that naturally take time, we distinguish between the contemporaneous and dynamic network effects of vaccination exposure. Leveraging an extensive list of controls and network proxies including Facebook county-to-county links, we find evidence showing positive, stage-of-pandemic dependent contemporaneous friendship network effects. We also consistently find null dynamic network effect, suggesting that social exposure to vaccination has had limited effect on alleviating COVID vaccine hesitancy.

Suggested Citation

  • Basu, Arnab K. & Chau, Nancy H. & Firsin, Oleg, 2023. "Social Connections and COVID-19 Vaccination," IZA Discussion Papers 16307, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16307
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    friendship network; COVID-19; vaccine uptake;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
    • H12 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government - - - Crisis Management

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