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Hostility toward breaching restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic

Author

Listed:
  • Ryo Takahashi

    (Graduate School of Economics, Waseda University)

  • Kenta Tanaka

    (FFaculty of Economics, Musashi University)

Abstract

Given the outbreak of Covid-19 most countries have adopted prevention policies that restrict economic and social activities to curb the spread. This has led to increased vigilantism and violence; for instance, Japan reported many cases of stores and firms experiencing harassment for breaching the restrictions during the state of emergency. Accordingly, this study empirically investigates the hostility toward the violation of restriction policy (breaching behavior) by stores in Japan and provides policy suggestions for efficient strategies to reduce the hostility level. We conducted an online randomized experiment of 1,600 individuals in Japan and measured their level of hostility by implementing joy-of-destruction minigames. Our results suggest that participants' average level of hostility toward industries that breach restrictions increased by 29%. However, after providing information on guideline adherence for preventing COVID-19 and sending moral suasion messages, participants significantly reduced their hostility level by 19% and 15%, respectively. Both interventions successfully reduced the probability of the most harmful behavior by approximately 8 percentage points.

Suggested Citation

  • Ryo Takahashi & Kenta Tanaka, 2020. "Hostility toward breaching restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic," Working Papers 2007, Waseda University, Faculty of Political Science and Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:wap:wpaper:2007
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Kurita, Kenichi & Katafuchi, Yuya, 2021. "COVID-19, stigma, and habituation: Theory and evidence from mobility data," MPRA Paper 110253, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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    JEL classification:

    • C91 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Individual Behavior
    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making

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