Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • Forthcoming
  • Article
  • Management Science

Health Externalities and Policy: The Role of Social Preferences

By: Laura Alfaro, Ester Faia, Nora Lamersdorf and Farzad Saidi
  • Format:Print
ShareBar

Abstract

Social preferences facilitate the internalization of health externalities, for example by reducing mobility during a pandemic. We test this hypothesis using mobility data from 258 cities worldwide alongside experimentally validated measures of social preferences. Controlling for time-varying heterogeneity that could arise at the level at which mitigation policies are implemented, we find that they matter less in regions that are more altruistic, patient, or exhibit less negative reciprocity. In those regions, mobility falls ahead of lockdowns, and remains low after the lifting thereof. Our results elucidate the importance, independent of the cultural context, of social preferences in fostering cooperative behavior.

Keywords

Social Preferences; Pandemics; Mobility; Health Externalities; Mitigation Policies; Health Pandemics; Cooperation; Behavior; Policy

Citation

Alfaro, Laura, Ester Faia, Nora Lamersdorf, and Farzad Saidi. "Health Externalities and Policy: The Role of Social Preferences." Management Science (forthcoming).
  • Find it at Harvard
  • Read Now

About The Author

Laura Alfaro

General Management
→More Publications

More from the Authors

    • July 2022
    • Faculty Research

    FIELD Immersion 2022: Lawrence, Massachusetts

    By: Laura Alfaro and Tom Quinn
    • 2022
    • Faculty Research

    Distributional Consequences of Monetary Policy Across Races: Evidence from the U.S. Credit Register

    By: Laura Alfaro, Ester Faia and Camelia Minoiu
    • AEA Papers and Proceedings

    Undisclosed Debt Sustainability

    By: Laura Alfaro and Fabio Kanczuk
More from the Authors
  • FIELD Immersion 2022: Lawrence, Massachusetts By: Laura Alfaro and Tom Quinn
  • Distributional Consequences of Monetary Policy Across Races: Evidence from the U.S. Credit Register By: Laura Alfaro, Ester Faia and Camelia Minoiu
  • Undisclosed Debt Sustainability By: Laura Alfaro and Fabio Kanczuk
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College