Abstract
This paper develops a quantitative theory of how people weigh the risks of infections against the benefits of engaging in social interactions that contribute to the spread of infectious diseases. Our framework takes into account the effects of public policies and private behavior on the spread of the disease. We evaluate the model using a novel micro panel dataset on consumption expenditures of young and older people across the first three waves of COVID-19 in Portugal. Our model highlights the critical role of expectations in shaping how human behavior influences the dynamics of epidemics.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 2571-2611 |
| Number of pages | 41 |
| Journal | Journal of Political Economy |
| Volume | 132 |
| Issue number | 8 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Aug 2024 |
Funding
Godinho de Matos was funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology grant UID/GES/00407/2020. The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official views of authors\u2019 institutions. The data we use are part of Statistics Portugal\u2019s project of making administrative data from the Portuguese tax authority and other public agencies available for statistical production and research. For information on how to access the data, see the Statistics Portugal website.
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Economics and Econometrics
