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Older People are Less Pessimistic about the Health Risks of Covid-19

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Listed:
  • Pedro Bordalo
  • Katherine B. Coffman
  • Nicola Gennaioli
  • Andrei Shleifer
Abstract
A central question for understanding behaviour during the Covid-19 pandemic, at both the individual and collective levels, is how people perceive the health and economic risks they face. We conducted a survey of over 1,500 Americans from May 6 – 13, 2020, to understand these risk perceptions. Here we report some preliminary results. Our most striking finding is that perceived personal health risks associated with Covid-19 fall sharply with age.

Suggested Citation

  • Pedro Bordalo & Katherine B. Coffman & Nicola Gennaioli & Andrei Shleifer, 2020. "Older People are Less Pessimistic about the Health Risks of Covid-19," NBER Working Papers 27494, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:27494
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    Cited by:

    1. Francesca Caselli & Francesco Grigoli & Damiano Sandri & Antonio Spilimbergo, 2022. "Mobility Under the COVID-19 Pandemic: Asymmetric Effects Across Gender and Age," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 70(1), pages 105-138, March.
    2. Giovanni Immordino & Tullio Jappelli & Tommaso Oliviero & Alberto Zazzaro, 2022. "Fear of COVID‐19 contagion and consumption: Evidence from a survey of Italian households," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(3), pages 496-507, March.
    3. Shin KINOSHITA & Masayuki SATO & Takanori IDA, 2022. "Bayesian Probability Revision and Infection Prevention Behavior in Japan : A Quantitative Analysis of the First Wave of COVID-19," Discussion papers e-22-004, Graduate School of Economics , Kyoto University.
    4. Kinoshita, Shin & Sato, Masayuki & Ida, Takanori, 2024. "Bayesian probability revision and infection prevention behavior in Japan: A quantitative analysis of the first wave of COVID-19," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(4).
    5. Hodbod, Alexander & Hommes, Cars & Huber, Stefanie J. & Salle, Isabelle, 2021. "The COVID-19 consumption game-changer: Evidence from a large-scale multi-country survey," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    6. Rees-Jones, Alex & D’Attoma, John & Piolatto, Amedeo & Salvadori, Luca, 2022. "Experience of the COVID-19 pandemic and support for safety-net expansion," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 200(C), pages 1090-1104.
    7. Ester Faia & Andreas Fuster & Vincenzo Pezone & Basit Zafar, 2024. "Biases in Information Selection and Processing: Survey Evidence from the Pandemic," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 106(3), pages 829-847, May.
    8. Ferragina, Emanuele & Pasqualini, Marta & Ricchi, Ettore & Zola, Andrew, 2021. "Who cares about health and the economy through the Covid-19 pandemic? Longitudinally tracking changes and heterogeneity in people’s perceptions of risks," SocArXiv rv7e3, Center for Open Science.
    9. Pedro Bordalo & Giovanni Burro & Katherine B. Coffman & Nicola Gennaioli & Andrei Shleifer, 2022. "Imagining the Future: Memory, Simulation and Beliefs about Covid," NBER Working Papers 30353, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Tsutomu Watanabe & Tomoyoshi Yabu, 2021. "Japan’s voluntary lockdown: further evidence based on age-specific mobile location data," The Japanese Economic Review, Springer, vol. 72(3), pages 333-370, July.
    11. Adriani, Fabrizio & Ladley, Dan, 2021. "Social distance, speed of containment and crowding in/out in a network model of contagion," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 190(C), pages 597-625.
    12. Conti, G.; & Giustinelli, P.;, 2022. "For Better or Worse? Subjective Expectations and Cost-Benefit Trade-Offs in Health Behavior: An Application to Lockdown Compliance in the United Kingdom," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 22/14, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
    13. Ori Heffetz & Guy Ishai, 2021. "Which Beliefs? Behavior-Predictive Beliefs are Inconsistent with Information-Based Beliefs: Evidence from COVID-19," NBER Working Papers 29452, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Gabriella Conti & Pamela Giustinelli, 2023. "For better or worse? Subjective expectations and cost-benefit trade-offs in health behavior," IFS Working Papers W23/19, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    15. Brea L Perry & Brian Aronson & Ashley F Railey & Christina Ludema, 2021. "If you build it, will they come? Social, economic, and psychological determinants of COVID-19 testing decisions," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(7), pages 1-13, July.
    16. Jan-Emmanuel De Neve & Daisy Fancourt & Christian Krekel & Sarah Swanke, 2020. "Are happier people more compliant? Global evidence from three large-scale surveys during Covid-19 lockdowns," CEP Occasional Papers 54, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    17. de Leon, Fernanda L. Lopez & Malde, Bansi & McQuillin, Ben, 2023. "The effects of emergency government cash transfers on beliefs and behaviours during the COVID pandemic: Evidence from Brazil," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 208(C), pages 140-155.
    18. Tsutomu Watanabe & Tomoyoshi Yabu, 2021. "Japan’s Voluntary Lockdown: Further Evidence Based on Age-Specific Mobile Location Data," CARF F-Series CARF-F-508, Center for Advanced Research in Finance, Faculty of Economics, The University of Tokyo.
    19. Chris de Mena & Suvy Qin & Jing Zhang, 2023. "The Labor Market Impact of Covid-19 on Asian Americans," Working Paper Series WP 2023-10, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
    20. Jan Krzysztof Solarz & Krzysztof Waliszewski, 2020. "Holistic Framework for COVID-19 Pandemic as Systemic Risk," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(Special 2), pages 340-351.
    21. Michèle Belot & Syngjoo Choi & Egon Tripodi & Eline van den Broek-Altenburg & Julian C. Jamison & Nicholas W. Papageorge, 2021. "Unequal consequences of Covid 19: representative evidence from six countries," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 19(3), pages 769-783, September.
    22. Barili, Emilia & Grembi, Veronica & Rosso, Anna C., 2023. "Mental health between present issues and future expectations," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 42-48.
    23. Galdo, Jose C. & Contreras, Cesar & Horna, Marjorie, 2025. "The Mental Health Effects of Living near Overburdened Hospitals During COVID-19 in Perú," IZA Discussion Papers 17662, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    24. Stefanie Huber, 2022. "SHE canÕt afford it and HE doesnÕt want it: The gender gap in the COVID-19 consumption response," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 22-029/II, Tinbergen Institute.
    25. M. Kate Bundorf & Jill DeMatteis & Grant Miller & Maria Polyakova & Jialu L. Streeter & Jonathan Wivagg, 2021. "Risk Perceptions and Protective Behaviors: Evidence from COVID-19 Pandemic," NBER Working Papers 28741, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D03 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Behavioral Microeconomics: Underlying Principles
    • I1 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health

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