Stay-At-Home Orders, Social Distancing and Trust

Arbeitspapier

Better understanding whether and how communities respond to government decisions is crucial for policy makers and health officials in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In this study, we document the socioeconomic determinants of COVID-19 stay-at-home orders' compliance in the U.S. Using cell phone data measuring changes in average distance traveled and non-essential visitation, we find that: stay-at-home orders reduce mobility by about 8­–10 percentage points; high-trust counties decrease their mobility significantly more than low-trust counties post-lockdown; and counties with relatively more self-declared democrats decrease significantly more their mobility. We also provide evidence that the estimated eeffct on compliance post-lockdown is especially large for trust in the press, and relatively smaller for trust in science, medicine or government.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 13234

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Crisis Management ; Health Behavior ; Health: Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
• Subject: COVID-19 ; stay-at-home orders ; social distancing ; trust

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Brodeur, Abel ; Grigoryeva, Idaliya ; Kattan, Lamis
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
• (where): Bonn
• (when): 2020

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/223676
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:42 AM CET