Risk Attitudes and Human Mobility during the COVID-19 Pandemic

TL;DR

This study shows that individuals' risk attitudes significantly influence their mobility and social confinement behaviors during COVID-19, with risk-averse regions responding more quickly to pandemic declarations.

Contribution

It demonstrates that risk attitudes, rather than actual health risks, primarily drive behavioral responses during pandemics, providing new insights into human mobility patterns.

Findings

Risk attitudes predict mobility reduction during COVID-19.

Regions with risk-averse attitudes respond earlier to pandemic declarations.

Behavioral responses are more influenced by risk perceptions than by actual health risks.

Abstract

Behavioral responses to pandemics are less shaped by actual mortality or hospitalization risks than they are by risk attitudes. We explore human mobility patterns as a measure of behavioral responses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our results indicate that risk-taking attitude is a critical factor in predicting reduction in human mobility and increase social confinement around the globe. We find that the sharp decline in movement after the WHO (World Health Organization) declared COVID-19 to be a pandemic can be attributed to risk attitudes. Our results suggest that regions with risk-averse attitudes are more likely to adjust their behavioral activity in response to the declaration of a pandemic even before most official government lockdowns. Further understanding of the basis of responses to epidemics, e.g., precautionary behavior, will help improve the containment of the spread of the virus.