Trust in the Healthcare System and COVID-19 Treatment in the Developing World. Survey and Experimental Evidence from Armenia

Armenak Antinyan, Thomas Bassetti (), Luca Corazzini and Filippo Pavesi
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Thomas Bassetti: Department of Economics ‘Marco Fanno', University of Padua

No 2020:10, Working Papers from Department of Economics, University of Venice "Ca' Foscari"

Abstract: Concerns are looming that the healthcare systems in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are mostly unprepared to combat COVID-19 because of limited resources. The problems in LMICs are exacerbated by the fact that citizens in these countries generally exhibit low trust in the healthcare system, which could trigger a number of uncooperative behaviors. In this paper, we focus on one such behavior and investigate the relationship between trust in the healthcare system and the likelihood of potential treatment-seeking behavior upon the appearance of the first symptoms of COVID-19. First, we provide motivating evidence from a unique national on-line survey administered in Armenia — a post-Soviet LMIC country. We then present results from a large-scale survey experiment in Armenia that provides causal evidence in support of the investigated relationship. Our main finding is that a more trustworthy healthcare system enhances the likelihood of potential treatment-seeking behavior when observing the initial symptoms.

Keywords: COVID-19; Epidemic; Healthcare system; Trust; Survey experiment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C9 I12 I15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 27 pages
Date: 2020
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cis, nep-cwa, nep-exp, nep-hea, nep-ore, nep-soc and nep-tra
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ven:wpaper:2020:10

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