View metadata

dc.titleThe Central Role of Social Dynamics in Nudging Social Norms for Collective Health
dc.contributor.authorMartínez Villarreal, Déborah
dc.contributor.authorRojas Méndez, Ana María
dc.contributor.authorScartascini, Carlos
dc.contributor.authorSimpser, Alberto
dc.contributor.orgunitDepartment of Research and Chief Economist
dc.coverageColombia
dc.date.available2024-03-13T00:03:00
dc.date.issue2024-03-13T00:03:00
dc.description.abstractCan societies be nudged to adopt beneficial behaviors? Publicizing how people behave on average descriptive-norms nudging has emerged as a key tool for increasing the adoption of desirable behaviors. While nudging, by describing social norms, has proven effective in one-shot interventions in small samples (marginal-effect designs), nudging on an ongoing basis at the population level may not necessarily lead to higher compliance and can give rise to major challenges. We use a simple model to show that social adjustment dynamics can drive a populations behavior in unanticipated directions. We propose a general approach to estimating equilibrium behavior and apply it to a study of mask-wearing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our empirical findings align with the analytical approach and indicate that publicizing mask-wearing rates on an ongoing basis could have backfired, as initially high rates would have settled into substantially lower equilibrium rates of the behavior. In other words, if scaled up, positive marginal-effect designs do not necessarily translate into full compliance with the intervention.
dc.format.extent40
dc.identifier.doihttp://dx.doi.org/10.18235/0012857
dc.identifier.urlhttps://publications.iadb.org/publications/english/document/The-Central-Role-of-Social-Dynamics-in-Nudging-Social-Norms-for-Collective-Health-0.pdf
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherInter-American Development Bank
dc.subjectNudge
dc.subjectSocial Norm
dc.subjectCoronavirus
dc.subjectRating
dc.subjectTax Compliance
dc.subjectHealth
dc.subjectPopulation Aging
dc.subjectPublic Health
dc.subjectPandemics
dc.subjectSocial Distancing
dc.subject.jelcodeD91 - Intertemporal Household Choice • Life Cycle Models and Saving
dc.subject.jelcodeI18 - Government Policy • Regulation • Public Health
dc.subject.jelcodeH41 - Public Goods
dc.subject.keywordsCOVID-19;Social norms;Social distancing;Normative expectations;Empirical expectations;Compliance;Social Dynamics;Collective Health
dc.typeWorking Papers
idb.identifier.pubnumberIDB-WP-01548
idb.operationRG-K1199
Return to Publication