Vaccination as personal public-good provision

Jonathan Reddinger, Gary Charness and David Levine

Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 2024, vol. 224, issue C, 481-499

Abstract: Vaccination against infectious diseases has both private and public benefits. We study whether social preferences – concerns for the well-being of other people – are associated with one’s decision regarding vaccination. We measure these social preferences for 549 online subjects with a public-good game and an altruism game. To the extent that one gets vaccinated out of concern for the health of others, contribution in the public-good game is analogous to an individual’s decision to obtain vaccination, while our altruism game provides a different measure of altruism, equity, and efficiency concerns. We proxy vaccine demand with how quickly a representative individual voluntarily took the initial vaccination for COVID-19 (after the vaccine was widely available). We collect COVID-19 vaccination history separately from the games to avoid experimenter-demand effects. We find a strong result: Contribution in the public-good game is associated with greater demand to voluntarily receive a first dose, and thus also to vaccinate earlier. Compared to a subject who contributes nothing, one who contributes the maximum ($4) is 58% more likely to obtain a first dose voluntarily in the four-month period that we study (April through August 2021). In short, people who are more pro-social are more likely to take a voluntary COVID-19 vaccination. Behavior in our altruism game does not predict vaccination. We recommend further research on the use of pro-social preferences to help motivate individuals to vaccinate for other transmissible diseases, such as the flu and HPV.

Keywords: Pro-social behavior; Vaccination; Behavioral public health; COVID-19; Public-good game; Experimental economics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C90 D91 I12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:224:y:2024:i:c:p:481-499

DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2024.06.015

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