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Lives or Livelihoods? Perceived Trade-Offs and Policy Views

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  • Sonja Settele
  • Cortnie Shupe

Abstract

We study the role of perceived trade-offs between human lives and economic benefits in shaping policy views. In an online experiment with a representative sample from the United States conducted during the early Covid-19 pandemic, we provide randomised information on the medium-run costs of restricting economic activity to mitigate infections. A one standard deviation lower perceived economic cost of lockdowns increases support by about twice as much as having a Covid at-risk condition, and by half as much as being a Democrat. Varying projected health benefits has a similar effect. Personal exposure to health risks reduces people’s responsiveness to cost-benefit considerations.

Suggested Citation

  • Sonja Settele & Cortnie Shupe, 2022. "Lives or Livelihoods? Perceived Trade-Offs and Policy Views," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 132(643), pages 1150-1178.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:econjl:v:132:y:2022:i:643:p:1150-1178.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/ej/ueab077
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    Cited by:

    1. Lasse J. Jessen & Sebastian Koehne & Patrick Nüß & Jens Ruhose, 2024. "Socioeconomic Inequality in Life Expectancy: Perception and Policy Demand," CESifo Working Paper Series 10940, CESifo.
    2. Claudio Thieme & Víctor Giménez & Diego Prior & Emili Tortosa-Ausina, 2023. "Health vs. Wealth: A Cross-country Analysis of Managerial Effectiveness of the COVID-19," Working Papers 2023/10, Economics Department, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón (Spain).

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