Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/237496 
Year of Publication: 
2021
Series/Report no.: 
IDB Working Paper Series No. IDB-WP-1217
Publisher: 
Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Washington, DC
Abstract: 
Until a vaccine is widely available, face masks and other nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) will continue to be the frontline defense against Covid-19 in developing countries. But their effectiveness depends critically on compliance by young adults, who are most likely both to become infected and to infect others. We conducted a randomized controlled trial in Bogotá, Colombia, to assess the effectiveness of informational nudges on university students concern about Covid-19, recent compliance with NPI recommendations, and intended future compliance. Although nudges boosted concern, they had limited effects on either recent or intended future compliance. We attribute these null results to high baseline levels of information about and compliance with NPIs an informational diminishing returns scenario that is likely to be increasingly common globally. Nudges were more effective at boosting recent compliance among participants who were politically left-wing, were relatively poor, and lived with more people.
Subjects: 
behavioral economics
coronavirus
framing
health behavior
nonpharmaceutical intervention
randomized controlled trial
JEL: 
D8
D83
I1
I15
I18
O1
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by-nc-nd Logo
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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