TY - JOUR

T1 - How to make universal, voluntary testing for COVID-19 work? A behavioural economics perspective

AU - Fallucchi, Francesco

AU - Görges, Luise

AU - Machado, Joël

AU - Pieters, Arne

AU - Suhrcke, Marc

PY - 2021/8/1

Y1 - 2021/8/1

N2 - Testing is widely seen as one core element of a successful strategy to curtail the COVID-19 pandemic and many countries have increased their efforts to provide testing at large scale. As most democratic governments refrain from enacting mandatory testing, a key emerging challenge is to increase voluntary participation. Using behavioural economics insights complemented with data from a novel survey in the US and a survey experiment in Luxembourg, we examine behavioural factors associated with the individual willingness to get tested (WTT). In our analysis, individual characteristics that correlate positively with WTT include age, altruism, conformism, the tendency to abide by government-imposed rules, concern about contracting COVID-19, and patience. Risk aversion, unemployment, and conservative political orientation correlate negatively with WTT. Building on and expanding these insights may prove fruitful for policy to effectively raise people's propensity to get tested.

AB - Testing is widely seen as one core element of a successful strategy to curtail the COVID-19 pandemic and many countries have increased their efforts to provide testing at large scale. As most democratic governments refrain from enacting mandatory testing, a key emerging challenge is to increase voluntary participation. Using behavioural economics insights complemented with data from a novel survey in the US and a survey experiment in Luxembourg, we examine behavioural factors associated with the individual willingness to get tested (WTT). In our analysis, individual characteristics that correlate positively with WTT include age, altruism, conformism, the tendency to abide by government-imposed rules, concern about contracting COVID-19, and patience. Risk aversion, unemployment, and conservative political orientation correlate negatively with WTT. Building on and expanding these insights may prove fruitful for policy to effectively raise people's propensity to get tested.

KW - Behavioural economics

KW - COVID-19 testing

KW - Willingness-to-get-tested

KW - Health sciences

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85107886546&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.healthpol.2021.05.003

DO - 10.1016/j.healthpol.2021.05.003

M3 - Journal articles

C2 - 34090724

AN - SCOPUS:85107886546

VL - 125

SP - 972

EP - 980

JO - Health Policy

JF - Health Policy

SN - 0168-8510

IS - 8

ER -