Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Gallo, Edoardo, Barak, Darija, Langtry, Alastair
Format: Preprint
Published: 2020
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2012.12118
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Table of Contents:
  • Governments have used social distancing to stem the spread of COVID-19, but lack evidence on the most effective policy to ensure compliance. We examine the effectiveness of fines and informational messages (nudges) in promoting social distancing in a web-based interactive experiment conducted during the first wave of the pandemic on a near-representative sample of the US population. Fines promote distancing, but nudges only have a marginal impact. Individuals do more social distancing when they are aware they are a superspreader. Using an instrumental variable approach, we argue progressives are more likely to practice distancing, and they are marginally more responsive to fines.