Arbeitspapier
Socio-Demographic Factors Associated with Self-Protecting Behavior during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Disease spread is in part a function of individual behavior. We examine the factors predicting individual behavior during the Covid-19 pandemic in the United States using novel data collected by Belot et al. (2020). Among other factors, we show that people with lower income, less flexible work arrangements (e.g., an inability to tele-work) and lack of outside space at home are less likely to engage in behaviors, such as social distancing, that limit the spread of disease. We also find evidence that region, gender and beliefs predict behavior. Broadly, our findings align with typical relationships between health and socio-economic status. Moreover, they suggest that the burden of measures designed to stem the pandemic are unevenly distributed across socio-demographic groups in ways that affect behavior and thus potentially the spread of illness. Policies that assume otherwise are unlikely to be effective or sustainable.
- Language
-
Englisch
- Bibliographic citation
-
Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 13333
- Classification
-
Wirtschaft
Health: General
Health and Inequality
- Subject
-
COVID-19
health
income
behavior
- Event
-
Geistige Schöpfung
- (who)
-
Papageorge, Nicholas W.
Zahn, Matthew V.
Belot, Michèle
van den Broek-Altenburg, Eline
Choi, Syngjoo
Jamison, Julian C.
Tripodi, Egon
- Event
-
Veröffentlichung
- (who)
-
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
- (where)
-
Bonn
- (when)
-
2020
- Handle
- Last update
-
10.03.2025, 11:45 AM CET
Data provider
ZBW - Deutsche Zentralbibliothek für Wirtschaftswissenschaften - Leibniz-Informationszentrum Wirtschaft. If you have any questions about the object, please contact the data provider.
Object type
- Arbeitspapier
Associated
- Papageorge, Nicholas W.
- Zahn, Matthew V.
- Belot, Michèle
- van den Broek-Altenburg, Eline
- Choi, Syngjoo
- Jamison, Julian C.
- Tripodi, Egon
- Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
Time of origin
- 2020