IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/pra/mprapa/101968.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

COVID-19 and Social Distancing in the Absence of Legal Enforcement: Survey Evidence from Japan

Author

Listed:
  • Shoji, Masahiro
  • Cato, Susumu
  • Iida, Takashi
  • Ishida, Kenji
  • Ito, Asei
  • McElwain, Kenneth

Abstract

Do people keep social distance to mitigate the infection risk of COVID-19, even without aggressive policy interventions? The Japanese government did not restrict individuals’ activities despite the early confirmation of infections, and as a result, economic damages were limited in the initial stage of infection spread. Exploiting these features, we examine the association between the subsequent increase in infections and voluntary social-distancing behavior. Using unique monthly panel survey data, we find that the increase in risk is associated with the likelihood of social-distancing behavior. However, those with lower educational attainment are less responsive, implying their higher exposure to infections. We provide evidence that this can be attributed to their underestimation of infection risk, while we cannot fully rule out the roles of income opportunity costs and poor information access. These results suggest the utility of interventions incorporating nudges to raise risk perception, as well as financial support for low-income households.

Suggested Citation

  • Shoji, Masahiro & Cato, Susumu & Iida, Takashi & Ishida, Kenji & Ito, Asei & McElwain, Kenneth, 2020. "COVID-19 and Social Distancing in the Absence of Legal Enforcement: Survey Evidence from Japan," MPRA Paper 101968, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:101968
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/101968/9/MPRA_paper_101968.pdf
    File Function: original version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David M. Cutler & Adriana Lleras-Muney & Tom Vogl, 2008. "Socioeconomic Status and Health: Dimensions and Mechanisms," NBER Working Papers 14333, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Winkleby, M.A. & Jatulis, D.E. & Frank, E. & Fortmann, S.P., 1992. "Socioeconomic status and health: How education, income, and occupation contribute to risk factors for cardiovascular disease," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 82(6), pages 816-820.
    3. John M. Barrios & Yael Hochberg, 2020. "Risk Perception Through the Lens of Politics in the Time of the COVID-19 Pandemic," NBER Working Papers 27008, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Balia, Silvia & Jones, Andrew M., 2008. "Mortality, lifestyle and socio-economic status," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 1-26, January.
    5. Tian Zhou‐Richter & Mark J. Browne & Helmut Gründl, 2010. "Don't They Care? Or, Are They Just Unaware? Risk Perception and the Demand for Long‐Term Care Insurance," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 77(4), pages 715-747, December.
    6. Zhixian Lin & Christopher M. Meissner, 2020. "Health vs. Wealth? Public Health Policies and the Economy During Covid-19," NBER Working Papers 27099, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Maurer, Jürgen, 2009. "Who has a clue to preventing the flu? Unravelling supply and demand effects on the take-up of influenza vaccinations," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 704-717, May.
    8. 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.
    9. Lundborg, Petter & Andersson, Henrik, 2008. "Gender, risk perceptions, and smoking behavior," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(5), pages 1299-1311, September.
    10. Hiroyasu Inoue & Yasuyuki Todo, 2020. "The propagation of the economic impact through supply chains: The case of a mega-city lockdown against the spread of COVID-19," Papers 2003.14002, arXiv.org.
    11. Kristenson, M. & Eriksen, H. R. & Sluiter, J. K. & Starke, D. & Ursin, H., 2004. "Psychobiological mechanisms of socioeconomic differences in health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 58(8), pages 1511-1522, April.
    12. Eddy van Doorslaer & Xander Koolman & Andrew M. Jones, 2004. "Explaining income‐related inequalities in doctor utilisation in Europe," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 13(7), pages 629-647, July.
    13. Fenichel, Eli P., 2013. "Economic considerations for social distancing and behavioral based policies during an epidemic," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 440-451.
    14. Shinsuke Ikeda & Hideaki Kiyoshi Kato & Fumio Ohtake & Yoshiro Tsutsui (ed.), 2016. "Behavioral Economics of Preferences, Choices, and Happiness," Springer Books, Springer, edition 1, number 978-4-431-55402-8, December.
    15. Schaller, Jessamyn & Schulkind, Lisa & Shapiro, Teny, 2019. "Disease outbreaks, healthcare utilization, and on-time immunization in the first year of life," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    16. Lin, Wanchuan & Sloan, Frank, 2015. "Risk perceptions and smoking decisions of adult Chinese men," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 60-73.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    RePEc Biblio mentions

    As found on the RePEc Biblio, the curated bibliography for Economics:
    1. > Economics of Welfare > Health Economics > Economics of Pandemics > Specific pandemics > Covid-19 > Health > Distancing and Lockdown > Voluntary

    Citations

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


    Cited by:

    1. Duquette, Nicolas, 2020. "Heard immunity: effective persuasion for a future COVID-19 vaccine," SocArXiv jwvsp, Center for Open Science.
    2. Shin KINOSHITA & Masayuki SATO & Takanori IDA, 2022. "Bayesian Probability Revision and Infection Prevention Behavior in Japan : A Quantitative Analysis of the First Wave of COVID-19," Discussion papers e-22-004, Graduate School of Economics , Kyoto University.
    3. Masuhara, Hiroaki & Hosoya, Kei, 2022. "Convergent movement of COVID-19 outbreak in Japan based on SIR model," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 29-43.
    4. Hosono, Kaoru, 2021. "Epidemic and Economic Consequences of Voluntary and Request-based Lockdowns in Japan," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 61(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. Masahiro Shoji & Susumu Cato & Takashi Iida & Kenji Ishida & Asei Ito & Kenneth Mori McElwain, 2022. "Variations in Early-Stage Responses to Pandemics: Survey Evidence from the COVID-19 Pandemic in Japan," Economics of Disasters and Climate Change, Springer, vol. 6(2), pages 235-258, July.
    2. Terrence Iverson & Edward Barbier, 2021. "National and Sub-National Social Distancing Responses to COVID-19," Economies, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-15, May.
    3. Vincenzo Carrieri & Ansgar Wuebker, 2014. "Does the Letter Matter (and for Everyone)? - Quasi-experimental Evidence on the Eff ects of Home Invitation on Mammography Uptake," Ruhr Economic Papers 0491, Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universität Dortmund, Universität Duisburg-Essen.
    4. Yating Chuang & John Chung-En Liu, 2020. "Who wears a mask? Gender differences in risk behaviors in the COVID-19 early days in Taiwan," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 40(4), pages 2619-2627.
    5. 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.
    6. Basco, Sergi & Domènech, Jordi & Rosés, Joan R., 2021. "The redistributive effects of pandemics: Evidence on the Spanish flu," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    7. Mellacher, Patrick, 2020. "COVID-Town: An Integrated Economic-Epidemiological Agent-Based Model," MPRA Paper 103661, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. David E. Bloom & Michael Kuhn & Klaus Prettner, 2022. "Modern Infectious Diseases: Macroeconomic Impacts and Policy Responses," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 60(1), pages 85-131, March.
    9. Michael Barnett & Greg Buchak & Constantine Yannelis, 2023. "Epidemic responses under uncertainty," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 120(2), pages 2208111120-, January.
    10. Chrys Esseau-Thomas & Omar Galarraga & Sherif Khalifa, 2022. "Epidemics, pandemics and income inequality," Health Economics Review, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 1-15, December.
    11. Carrieri, V. & Wuebker, A., 2014. "Does the letter matter (and for everyone)? Quasi-experimental evidence on the effects of home invitation on mammography uptake," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 14/11, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
    12. Bisin, Alberto & Moro, Andrea, 2022. "JUE insight: Learning epidemiology by doing: The empirical implications of a Spatial-SIR model with behavioral responses," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    13. Klabbers, Gonnie & Bosma, Hans & Van Lenthe, Frank J. & Kempen, Gertrudis I. & Van Eijk, Jacques T. & Mackenbach, Johan P., 2009. "The relative contributions of hostility and depressive symptoms to the income gradient in hospital-based incidence of ischaemic heart disease: 12-Year follow-up findings from the GLOBE study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 69(8), pages 1272-1280, October.
    14. Kurt R. Brekke & Tor Helge Holmås & Karin Monstad & Odd Rune Straume, 2018. "Socio‐economic status and physicians' treatment decisions," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(3), pages 77-89, March.
    15. Ozkan, Aydin & Ozkan, Gulcin & Yalaman, Abdullah & Yildiz, Yilmaz, 2021. "Climate risk, culture and the Covid-19 mortality: A cross-country analysis," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    16. Andrew M. Jones & Eddy Van Doorslaer & Teresa Bago D’Uva & Silvia Balia & Lynn Gambin & Cristina Hernández Quevedo & Xander Koolman & Nigel Rice, 2006. "Health and Wealth: Empirical Findings and Political Consequences," Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 7(s1), pages 93-112, May.
    17. Vincenzo Carrieri & Maria De Paola & Francesca Gioia, 2021. "The health-economy trade-off during the Covid-19 pandemic: Communication matters," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(9), pages 1-25, September.
    18. Glei, Dana A. & Goldman, Noreen & Shkolnikov, Vladimir M. & Jdanov, Dmitri & Shalnova, Svetlana & Shkolnikova, Maria & Weinstein, Maxine, 2013. "To what extent do biomarkers account for the large social disparities in health in Moscow?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 164-172.
    19. Abel Brodeur & David Gray & Anik Islam & Suraiya Bhuiyan, 2021. "A literature review of the economics of COVID‐19," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(4), pages 1007-1044, September.
    20. repec:nip:nipewp:05/2015 is not listed on IDEAS
    21. Carrieri, Vincenzo & De Paola, Maria & Gioia, Francesca, 2020. "The Health-Wealth Trade-off during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Communication Matters," IZA Discussion Papers 13943, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    COVID-19; pandemic; social distancing; risk perception; nudge;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • I14 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Inequality
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health

    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:pra:mprapa:101968. 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: Joachim Winter (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vfmunde.html .

    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.