Awareness of pandemics and the impact of COVID-19

Alejandro Buesa, Javier Pérez and Daniel Santabárbara

Economics Letters, 2021, vol. 204, issue C

Abstract: Awareness about the occurrence of viral infectious (or other) tail risks can influence their socioeconomic inter-temporal impacts. In this regard, a branch of the literature finds that personal experiences with significant shocks can have long-lasting effects on risk-taking attitudes and the perceived probability about the occurrence of extreme, negative shocks. In this paper, we proxy the level of societal experience (awareness) in the face of the COVID-19 outbreak by past exposure of a country to epidemics, and other catastrophic events. We show that in a large cross-section of more than 150 countries, more aware societies suffered a less intense impact of the COVID-19 disease, in terms of loss of lives and, to some extent, economic damage.

Keywords: Socioeconomic impact of pandemics; Global health crises (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E43 F41 N10 N30 N40 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Working Paper: Awareness of pandemics and the impact of COVID-19 (2021)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:204:y:2021:i:c:s0165176521001695

DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2021.109892

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