COVID-19

As part of our research, we are interested in how individuals make decisions under uncertainty and what shapes their private contributions to a public good. To this end, we exploit the natural public good experiment of the spreading coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 disease (COVID-19) in Germany since spring 2020. The particular public good we are focusing on is public health. Individuals can contribute to this public good by keeping physical distance to others and by increasing their individual hygienic efforts.

To address these questions, we started, among other things, a panel survey in March 2020. This survey includes questions on past and planned behavior related to the corona pandemic, support for governmental efforts to slow the spread of the virus, elicits social preferences, and more. Details on the survey are available from the pre-registration at the AEA RCT. For more information on results deriving from this work, please refer to our related research listed below.

Related research:

• Bos, B., Drupp, M.A., Meya, J.N., Quaas, M.F. (2021). “COVID-19 in Deutschland: Befragungsergebnisse zur Einkommenserwartung, Heterogenität in der Impfbereitschaft, Unterstützung des Infektionsschutzes und der Rückkehr zur „Normalität“”. Interaktiv abrufbar unter: https://bjoernbos.github.io/COVID19_Kurzbericht/. 
• Quaas, Martin F., Jasper Meya, Hanna Schenk, Björn Bos, Moritz A. Drupp, and Till Requate (2020). “The Social Cost of Contacts: Theory and Evidence for the COVID-19 Pandemic in Germany.” No. 8347. CESifo Working Paper. Munich. https://www.cesifo.org/en/publikationen/2020/working-paper/social-cost-contacts-theory-and-evidence-covid-19-pandemic-germany
• Bos, Björn, Moritz A. Drupp, Jasper N. Meya, and Martin F. Quaas. 2020. “Moral Suasion and the Private Provision of Public Goods: Evidence from the COVID-19 Pandemic.” Environmental and Resource Economics 76 (4): 1117–38. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10640-020-00477-2.

Press coverage (in German):

• SPIEGEL ONLINE Leitartikel (20.06.2020): “Faktor Mensch”
• Pressemitteilung “Simulationen zeigen: Eigenverantwortung allein macht Covid-19-Pandemie in Deutschland beherrschbar – aber zu einem hohen Preis”, https://www.uni-leipzig.de/newsdetail/artikel/personal-responsibility-alone-makes-covid-19-pandemic-in-germany-manageable-albeit-at-a-high-price/