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How COVID-19 changed Italian consumers' behavior

Author

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  • Cervellati, Enrico Maria
  • Stella, Gian Paolo
  • Filotto, Umberto
  • Maino, Andrea

Abstract

We investigate how the COVID-19 pandemic affected people's health-related choices and spending habits in Italy, the first European country to be heavily affected by the pandemic. We collected about 3000 questionnaires in May and June 2020 (that is, during the stabilization phase that followed the country's lockdown), asking questions taken from the “Survey tool and guidance: rapid, simple, flexible behavioural insights on COVID-19” issued by the World Health Organization (WHO), and correlated the responses with respondents' demographic and socioeconomic profiles. A principal component analysis (PCA) shows three main components that we label “Unusual behavior,” “Precautionary spending,” and “Augmented social distancing,” which vary with demographic and socioeconomic characteristics.

Suggested Citation

  • Cervellati, Enrico Maria & Stella, Gian Paolo & Filotto, Umberto & Maino, Andrea, 2022. "How COVID-19 changed Italian consumers' behavior," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:glofin:v:51:y:2022:i:c:s1044028321000788
    DOI: 10.1016/j.gfj.2021.100680
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Coibion, Olivier & Gorodnichenko, Yuriy & Weber, Michael, 2020. "Labor Markets During the Covid-19 Crisis: A Preliminary View," Department of Economics, Working Paper Series qt7rx7t91p, Department of Economics, Institute for Business and Economic Research, UC Berkeley.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Consumer behavior; Consumer spending; COVID-19; Health-related decisions; Socioeconomic variables;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D1 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior
    • D7 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making
    • D9 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics
    • E7 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macro-Based Behavioral Economics
    • I1 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health
    • I3 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty

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