Health Externalities and Policy: The Role of Social Preferences

Laura Alfaro, Ester Faia, Nora Lamersdorf () and Farzad Saidi ()
Additional contact information
Nora Lamersdorf: Goethe University Frankfurt
Farzad Saidi: University of Bonn & CEPR

No 109, ECONtribute Discussion Papers Series from University of Bonn and University of Cologne, Germany

Abstract: Social preferences facilitate the internalization of health externalities, for ex-ample by reducing mobility during a pandemic. We test this hypothesis using mobility data from 258 cities worldwide alongside experimentally validated measures of social preferences. Controlling for time-varying heterogeneity that could arise at the level at which mitigation policies are implemented, we find that they matter less in regions that are more altruistic, patient, or exhibit less negative reciprocity. In those regions, mobility falls ahead of lockdowns, and remains low after the lifting thereof. Our results elucidate the importance, independent of the cultural context, of social preferences in fostering cooperative behavior.

Keywords: social preferences; pandemics; mobility; health externalities; mitigation policies (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D01 D62 D64 D91 I10 I18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 33 pages
Date: 2021-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea, nep-isf and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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https://www.econtribute.de/RePEc/ajk/ajkdps/ECONtribute_109_2021.pdf First version, 2021 (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Health Externalities and Policy: The Role of Social Preferences (2022)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ajk:ajkdps:109

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