Risk perceptions and protective behaviors at the onset and outset of the COVID-19 pandemic
研究美国人在COVID-19大流行初期（2020年）和末期（2023年）对COVID-19、流感和食物中毒的风险感知形成，发现风险感知受性别、教育和就业影响，且仅因果性地增加电话或在线医疗咨询约一个百分点。
Abstract We study the formation of risk perceptions— subjective probability beliefs— of three adverse events—COVID-19 contagion, influenza contagion, and food poisoning—at the onset (2020) and outset (2023) of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. We show that perceived risk levels for COVID-19 are similar to those for influenza, are not significantly influenced by proximity to infection, and are shaped instead by an individual’s gender, education, and employment status. Using an instrumental variable strategy, we assess whether these perceptions influence a number of protective behaviors. We find that although risk perceptions are associated with various protective behaviors, they only causally increase the likelihood of phone or online medical consultations by about a percentage point.