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Hoarding in the age of COVID-19

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  • Michelle Baddeley

    (Professor in Economics, UTS Business School, University of Technology Sydney; Honorary Professor, Institute for Global Prosperity, University College London; Adjunct Professor, UniSA Business School, University of South Australia)

Abstract

Hoarding is a well-established phenomenon in economics, often explored in the context of savings, financial speculation and employment. Conventional economic models of hoarding cannot, however, easily explain some of the unusual hoarding behaviours observed during the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper extends the economic analysis of hoarding by incorporating multidisciplinary explanations for some of the anomalies in hoarding observed during the COVID-19 crisis. This multidisciplinary approach suggests that behavioural economics and behavioural science can provide rich insights for policy-makers to use in adapting their policies to limit the negative economic, social and psychological impacts from anomalous hoarding behaviours during pandemics.

Suggested Citation

  • Michelle Baddeley, 2020. "Hoarding in the age of COVID-19," Journal of Behavioral Economics for Policy, Society for the Advancement of Behavioral Economics (SABE), vol. 4(S), pages 69-75, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:beh:jbepv1:v:4:y:2020:i:s:p:69-75
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Citations

    RePEc Biblio mentions

    As found on the RePEc Biblio, the curated bibliography for Economics:
    1. > Economics of Welfare > Health Economics > Economics of Pandemics > Specific pandemics > Covid-19 > Economic consequences > Consumption > Hoarding

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    Cited by:

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    2. Erica Freer & Quinn Keefer, 2022. "Optimism Bias and Perceptions of Behavioral Factors for Preventing Severe COVID-19 Complications," Journal of Behavioral Economics for Policy, Society for the Advancement of Behavioral Economics (SABE), vol. 6(1), pages 11-20, December.
    3. Jingjing Zhang & Nan Jiang & Jason James Turner & Saeed Pahlevan Sharif, 2021. "The Impact of Scarcity of Medical Protective Products on Chinese Consumers’ Impulsive Purchasing during the COVID-19 Epidemic in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-14, August.
    4. Schmidt, Robert C. & Westbrock, Bastian & Hoegen, Hendrik, 2023. "A simple model of panic buying," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 216(C), pages 268-286.
    5. Ariel Kalil & Susan Mayer & Rohen Shah, 2023. "Scarcity and Inattention," Journal of Behavioral Economics for Policy, Society for the Advancement of Behavioral Economics (SABE), vol. 7(1), pages 35-42, November.
    6. Joanna Kowalczyk-Anioł & Karolina Kacprzak & Ewa Szafrańska, 2022. "How the COVID-19 Pandemic Affected the Functioning of Tourist Short-Term Rental Platforms (Airbnb and Vrbo) in Polish Cities," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(14), pages 1-23, July.
    7. Giulia Andrighetto & Aron Szekely & Andrea Guido & Michele Gelfand & Jered Abernathy & Gizem Arikan & Zeynep Aycan & Shweta Bankar & Davide Barrera & Dana Basnight-Brown & Anabel Belaus & Elizaveta Be, 2024. "Changes in social norms during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic across 43 countries," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-11, December.
    8. Gopal Das & Shailendra Pratap Jain & Durairaj Maheswaran & Rebecca J. Slotegraaf & Raji Srinivasan, 2021. "Pandemics and marketing: insights, impacts, and research opportunities," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 49(5), pages 835-854, September.
    9. Michelle Baddeley, 2020. "COVID-19 2020: A year of living dangerously," Journal of Behavioral Economics for Policy, Society for the Advancement of Behavioral Economics (SABE), vol. 4(S3), pages 5-9, December.
    10. Arroyos-Calvera, Danae & Covey, Judith & McDonald, Rebecca, 2023. "Are distributional preferences for safety stable? A longitudinal analysis before and after the COVID-19 outbreak," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 324(C).
    11. Justin Jia & Jia Li & Weixin Liu, 2023. "Expectation-based consumer purchase decisions: behavioral modeling and observations," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 34(3), pages 397-413, September.
    12. Samuele Ridolfi, 2024. "Behavioral Macroeconomics: A Systematic Review for Policy Insights," Journal of Behavioral Economics for Policy, Society for the Advancement of Behavioral Economics (SABE), vol. 8(S2), pages 35-42, December.
    13. Alessandro Cascavilla & Rocco Caferra & Andrea Morone, 2023. "The green and the dark side of distance learning: from environmental quality to socioeconomic inequality," Journal of Behavioral Economics for Policy, Society for the Advancement of Behavioral Economics (SABE), vol. 7(2), pages 33-38, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    COVID-19; hoarding; consumption; savings; herding;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making
    • E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth
    • E71 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on the Macro Economy

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