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Socially Optimal Mistakes? Debiasing COVID-19 Mortality Risk Perceptions and Prosocial Behavior

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  • Abel, Martin

    (Bowdoin College)

  • Byker, Tanya

    (Middlebury College)

  • Carpenter, Jeffrey P.

    (Middlebury College)

Abstract

The perception of risk affects how people behave during crises. We conduct a series of experiments to explore how people form COVID-19 mortality risk beliefs and the implications for prosocial behavior. We first document that people overestimate their own risk and that of young people, while underestimating the risk old people face. We show that the availability heuristic contributes to these biased beliefs. Using information about the actual risk to debias people's own risk perception does not affect donations to the Centers for Disease Control but does decrease the amount of time invested in learning how to protect older people. This constitutes a debiasing social dilemma. Additionally providing information on the risk for the elderly, however, counteracts these negative effects. Importantly, debiasing seems to operate through the subjective categorization of and emotional response to new information.

Suggested Citation

  • Abel, Martin & Byker, Tanya & Carpenter, Jeffrey P., 2020. "Socially Optimal Mistakes? Debiasing COVID-19 Mortality Risk Perceptions and Prosocial Behavior," IZA Discussion Papers 13560, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
  • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp13560
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    3. Maja Adena & Julian Harke, 2022. "COVID-19 and pro-sociality: How do donors respond to local pandemic severity, increased salience, and media coverage?," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 25(3), pages 824-844, June.
    4. Abel, Martin & Burger, Rulof, 2023. "Unpacking Name-Based Race Discrimination," IZA Discussion Papers 16254, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
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    6. Abel, Martin & Brown, Willa, 2022. "Prosocial behavior in the time of COVID-19: The effect of private and public role models," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    7. Sugata Marjit & Gouranga Gopal Das, 2022. "Immunity-Driven Comparative Advantage and Its Palliative Effect on Social Health and Inequality - A Theoretical Perspective," CESifo Working Paper Series 9569, CESifo.
    8. Frank A. Sloan, 2024. "Subjective beliefs, health, and health behaviors," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 69(2), pages 105-144, October.
    9. William F. Vásquez & Jennifer M. Trudeau, 2022. "Willingness to give amid pandemics: a contingent valuation of anticipated nongovernmental immunization programs," International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Springer, vol. 22(1), pages 53-68, March.
    10. Xiaolei Li & Jian Li & Ping Qing & Wuyang Hu, 2021. "COVID-19 and the Change in Lifestyle: Bodyweight, Time Allocation, and Food Choices," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(19), pages 1-14, October.
    11. de Leon, Fernanda L. Lopez & Malde, Bansi & McQuillin, Ben, 2023. "The effects of emergency government cash transfers on beliefs and behaviours during the COVID pandemic: Evidence from Brazil," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 208(C), pages 140-155.
    12. Gutierrez, Emilio & Rubli, Adrian & Tavares, Tiago, 2022. "Information and behavioral responses during a pandemic: Evidence from delays in Covid-19 death reports," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    13. Blanco, Esther & Baier, Alexandra & Holzmeister, Felix & Jaber-Lopez, Tarek & Struwe, Natalie, 2022. "Substitution of social sustainability concerns under the Covid-19 pandemic," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    14. Marjit, Sugata & Das, Gouranga G., 2023. "Immunity-driven Comparative Advantage and its Palliative Effect on Social Health and Inequality: A Theoretical Perspective," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1252, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    15. Fuest, Clemens & Immel, Lea & Neumeier, Florian & Peichl, Andreas, 2023. "Does expert information affect citizens’ attitudes toward Corona policies? Evidence from Germany," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    16. Hurwitz, Abigail & Mitchell, Olivia S. & Sade, Orly, 2022. "Testing methods to enhance longevity awareness," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 204(C), pages 466-475.
    17. Yi-Fang Luo & Shu-Ching Yang & Shih-Chieh Hung & Kun-Yi Chou, 2022. "Exploring the Impacts of Preventative Health Behaviors with Respect to COVID-19: An Altruistic Perspective," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(13), pages 1-14, June.
    18. Maria Kleshnina & Christian Hilbe & Štěpán Šimsa & Krishnendu Chatterjee & Martin A. Nowak, 2023. "The effect of environmental information on evolution of cooperation in stochastic games," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-11, December.
    19. Yi-Fang Luo & Liang-Ching Chen & Shu-Ching Yang & Shinhye Hong, 2022. "Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice (KAP) toward COVID-19 Pandemic among the Public in Taiwan: A Cross-Sectional Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(5), pages 1-14, February.
    20. Glenn L. Furton, 2023. "The pox of politics: Troesken’s tradeoff reexamined," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 195(1), pages 169-191, April.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    experiment; risk perception; prosocial behavior; debiasing; COVID-19;
    All these keywords.

    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
    • H41 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Public Goods

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