Face masks increase compliance with physical distancing recommendations during the COVID-19 pandemic

Gyula Seres, Anna Helen Balleyer, Nicola Cerutti, Anastasia Danilov, Jana Friedrichsen, Yiming Liu and Müge Süer

EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, 2021, vol. 7, issue 2, 139-158

Abstract: Governments across the world have implemented restrictive policies to slow the spread of COVID-19. Recommended face mask use has been a controversially discussed policy, among others, due to potential adverse effects on physical distancing. Using a randomized field experiment (N = 300), we show that individuals kept a significantly larger distance from someone wearing a face mask than from an unmasked person during the early days of the pandemic. According to an additional survey experiment (N = 456) conducted at the time, masked individuals were not perceived as being more infectious than unmasked ones, but they were believed to prefer more distancing. This result suggests that wearing a mask served as a social signal that led others to increase the distance they kept. Our findings provide evidence against the claim that mask use creates a false sense of security that would negatively affect physical distancing. Furthermore, our results suggest that behavior has informational content that may be affected by policies.

Keywords: COVID-19; health policy; face masks; risk compensation; social signaling; field experiment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C93 D9 I12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Face masks increase compliance with physical distancing recommendations during the COVID-19 pandemic (2021)
Working Paper: Face Masks Increase Compliance with Physical Distancing Recommendations during the COVID-19 Pandemic (2020)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:espost:247708

DOI: 10.1007/s40881-021-00108-6

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