The rising numbers of COVID-19 cases and deaths, prolonged lockdowns, substantial restrictions on public life and an economic downturn negatively affect personal well-being. In this paper, we explore COVID-19-related determinants of life dissatisfaction and feelings of anxiety using data collected from March 23 to April 30 2020 in 25 advanced and developing countries from four continents. We find that persons with better general health, with a paid job, living with a partner, daily exercising and those avoiding loneliness report less dissatisfaction and less anxiety. The presence of children and a pet in the household has no effect. Women report anxiety feelings more often than men. Older people report lower dissatisfaction and anxiety, remarkable given that the older population is among the most vulnerable in the current pandemic. Job-related changes due to COVID-19 such as income reduction and increase or decrease of workload are associated with more dissatisfaction and more anxiety. In reaction to the pandemic governments have adopted a range of measures. We show that restrictions on mobility and requirements to wear protective gear in public increase dissatisfaction and that the state-imposed emergency increase feelings of anxiety. We find that a growing number of confirmed COVID-19 cases increases dissatisfaction and anxiety but that this effect levels off with a higher number of cases. Our findings support targeted government policies to preserve economic security, and increase stability of employment.
{"title":"Life Dissatisfaction and Anxiety in COVID-19 pandemic","authors":"P. Pedraza, M. Guzi, K. Tijdens","doi":"10.2760/755327","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2760/755327","url":null,"abstract":"The rising numbers of COVID-19 cases and deaths, prolonged lockdowns, substantial restrictions on public life and an economic downturn negatively affect personal well-being. In this paper, we explore COVID-19-related determinants of life dissatisfaction and feelings of anxiety using data collected from March 23 to April 30 2020 in 25 advanced and developing countries from four continents. We find that persons with better general health, with a paid job, living with a partner, daily exercising and those avoiding loneliness report less dissatisfaction and less anxiety. The presence of children and a pet in the household has no effect. Women report anxiety feelings more often than men. Older people report lower dissatisfaction and anxiety, remarkable given that the older population is among the most vulnerable in the current pandemic. Job-related changes due to COVID-19 such as income reduction and increase or decrease of workload are associated with more dissatisfaction and more anxiety. In reaction to the pandemic governments have adopted a range of measures. We show that restrictions on mobility and requirements to wear protective gear in public increase dissatisfaction and that the state-imposed emergency increase feelings of anxiety. We find that a growing number of confirmed COVID-19 cases increases dissatisfaction and anxiety but that this effect levels off with a higher number of cases. Our findings support targeted government policies to preserve economic security, and increase stability of employment.","PeriodicalId":188529,"journal":{"name":"MUNI ECON Working Papers","volume":"17 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114932999","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 1900-01-01DOI: 10.5817/wp_muni_econ_2023-02
Clò Stefano, Regiani Tommaso, Ruberto Sabrina
This paper questions whether informative feedback on consumption can nudge water saving behavioral change. For this purpose, we launched a five-month online information campaign which involved equipping around 1,000 households located in the province of Milan (Italy) with a smart meter. Treated households received monthly reports via email on their per capita daily average water consumption, which included a social comparison component (consumption class size). The difference-in-differences analysis showed that, compared to the control group, treated units reduced their daily per capita water consumption by more than 10 % (22 liters or 5.8 gallons). This additional water saving increased with the number of monthly reports, though it did not persist two months after the campaign expired. The impact of the campaign was heterogeneous across consumption classes, while a Regression Discontinuity Design analysis showed that different feedback on consumption class size differentially affected water saving at the margin. Finally, being able to observe the email opening rate, we complemented the ITT analysis by developing a Per Protocol (PP) analysis, where non-adherent units were excluded from the treated group. Both ITT and PP provide consistent conclusions, thus augmenting the level of confidence in the study results.
{"title":"Consumption feedback and water saving: An experiment in the metropolitan area of Milan","authors":"Clò Stefano, Regiani Tommaso, Ruberto Sabrina","doi":"10.5817/wp_muni_econ_2023-02","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5817/wp_muni_econ_2023-02","url":null,"abstract":"This paper questions whether informative feedback on consumption can nudge water saving behavioral change. For this purpose, we launched a five-month online information campaign which involved equipping around 1,000 households located in the province of Milan (Italy) with a smart meter. Treated households received monthly reports via email on their per capita daily average water consumption, which included a social comparison component (consumption class size). The difference-in-differences analysis showed that, compared to the control group, treated units reduced their daily per capita water consumption by more than 10 % (22 liters or 5.8 gallons). This additional water saving increased with the number of monthly reports, though it did not persist two months after the campaign expired. The impact of the campaign was heterogeneous across consumption classes, while a Regression Discontinuity Design analysis showed that different feedback on consumption class size differentially affected water saving at the margin. Finally, being able to observe the email opening rate, we complemented the ITT analysis by developing a Per Protocol (PP) analysis, where non-adherent units were excluded from the treated group. Both ITT and PP provide consistent conclusions, thus augmenting the level of confidence in the study results.","PeriodicalId":188529,"journal":{"name":"MUNI ECON Working Papers","volume":"10 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127611534","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 1900-01-01DOI: 10.5817/wp_muni_econ_2020-01
Fišar Miloš, Reggiani Tommaso, Sabatini Fabio, Špalek Jiří
We study the impact of media bias on tax compliance. Through a framed laboratory experiment, we assess how the exposure to biased news about government action affects compliance in a repeated taxation game. Subjects treated with positive news are significantly more compliant than the control group. The exposure to negative news, instead, does not prompt any significant reaction in respect to the neutral condition, suggesting that participants perceive the media negativity bias in the selection and tonality of news as the norm rather than the exception. Overall, our results suggest that biased news act as a constant source of psychological priming and play a vital role in taxpayers’ compliance decisions.
{"title":"Media Bias and Tax Compliance: Experimental Evidence","authors":"Fišar Miloš, Reggiani Tommaso, Sabatini Fabio, Špalek Jiří","doi":"10.5817/wp_muni_econ_2020-01","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5817/wp_muni_econ_2020-01","url":null,"abstract":"We study the impact of media bias on tax compliance. Through a framed laboratory experiment, we assess how the exposure to biased news about government action affects compliance in a repeated taxation game. Subjects treated with positive news are significantly more compliant than the control group. The exposure to negative news, instead, does not prompt any significant reaction in respect to the neutral condition, suggesting that participants perceive the media negativity bias in the selection and tonality of news as the norm rather than the exception. Overall, our results suggest that biased news act as a constant source of psychological priming and play a vital role in taxpayers’ compliance decisions.","PeriodicalId":188529,"journal":{"name":"MUNI ECON Working Papers","volume":"76 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132245348","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}