Public health shocks, learning and diet improvement
利用COVID-19疫情作为外生冲击，基于中国近百万食品购买数据，发现密集的健康信息宣传促使人们改善营养摄入，表明公共卫生事件可通过学习效应带来持久健康行为改变。
Many governments aim to mitigate health risks by attacking nutritional failures. In this article, we exploit a unique natural experiment, the COVID-19 pandemic as an exogenous public health shock, to estimate the learning effects of intensive health information campaigns on nutrient intake during the pandemic. Using data from nearly-one million food purchases in China, our empirical findings strongly support the learning effect in explaining improvements in nutrient intake in the post-COVID-19 period. We conclude that when public health shocks occur, policy makers can boost relevant learning mechanisms by promoting information and education to improve individuals' awareness of preventive health behaviors of a more permanent nature, which can lead to health improvements in a society.