The Impact of an Epidemic: Experimental Evidence on Preference Stability from Wuhan

Shachat, J.; Walker, M.J.; Wei, L.

doi:10.1257/pandp.20211002

The Impact of an Epidemic: Experimental Evidence on Preference Stability from Wuhan

Shachat, J.; Walker, M.J.; Wei, L.

Authors

Professor Jason Shachat jason.shachat@durham.ac.uk
Professor

Matthew James Walker matthew.j.walker@durham.ac.uk
PGR Student Doctor of Philosophy

L. Wei

Abstract

We examine how the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus in the Hubei province of China impacted pro-social behavior and attitudes toward risk and uncertainty. The study repeatedly applies a panel of financially incentivized individual and strategic decision tasks via the WeChat social media platform to a population of preregistered Wuhan University students. We find that the initial outbreak coupled with the lock-down of Wuhan City led to an uptick in altruism, trust, and ambiguity aversion and a downtick in risk aversion. Over the remaining samples, we observed that all measurements return to baseline levels except for risk aversion.

Citation

Shachat, J., Walker, M., & Wei, L. (2021). The Impact of an Epidemic: Experimental Evidence on Preference Stability from Wuhan. AEA Papers and Proceedings, 111, 302-306. https://doi.org/10.1257/pandp.20211002

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Feb 11, 2021
Online Publication Date	May 31, 2021
Publication Date	2021-05
Deposit Date	Aug 26, 2021
Publicly Available Date	Aug 26, 2021
Journal	AEA Papers and Proceedings
Print ISSN	2574-0768
Electronic ISSN	2574-0776
Publisher	American Economic Association
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	111
Pages	302-306
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1257/pandp.20211002
Public URL	https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1243049
Publisher URL	https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/pandp.20211002&ArticleSearch%5Bwithin%5D%5Barticletitle%5D=1&ArticleSearch%5Bwithin%5D%5Barticleabstract%5D=1&ArticleSearch%5Bwithin%5D%5Bauthorlast%5D=1&ArticleSearch%5Bq%5D=The+Impact+of+an+Epidemic%3A+Experime