IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/revepe/v1y2020i1d10.1007_s43253-020-00015-2.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Behavioral economics in the time of coronavirus: rebellion or “willful ignorance” in the face of “grand challenges”

Author

Listed:
  • Pritika Rao

    (Research Fellow, Innovation for Cancer Care in Africa (ICCA) project, National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS))

Abstract

This article considers the curious case of human behavior in the context of the coronavirus pandemic. We have observed that individuals, societies, and nations are exhibiting various irrationalities that are worth studying more closely. Applying the insights and research of reputed behavioral economists to these unprecedented circumstances, we explore possible explanations for individual and collective actions that appear, in many cases, to be highly counterintuitive. In the face of large-scale global issues, that Lazaric (2020) refers to as “grand challenges,” fraught with uncertainties and informational asymmetries, we delve deeper into the complexities of the factors that influence decision-making at various levels as we try to make sense of behavior. We wonder if reasons include the outright rejection of facts or perhaps the unwillingness to even receive information that has the potential adversely affect one’s welfare or self-interests—a tendency that Grossman and Van Der Weele (2017) term “willful ignorance.” We conclude with a few lessons and recommendations that can help understand and motivate behavior.

Suggested Citation

  • Pritika Rao, 2020. "Behavioral economics in the time of coronavirus: rebellion or “willful ignorance” in the face of “grand challenges”," Review of Evolutionary Political Economy, Springer, vol. 1(1), pages 137-143, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:revepe:v:1:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1007_s43253-020-00015-2
    DOI: 10.1007/s43253-020-00015-2
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s43253-020-00015-2
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s43253-020-00015-2?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dan Galai, 2006. "The "Ostrich Effect" and the Relationship between the Liquidity and the Yields of Financial Assets," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 79(5), pages 2741-2759, September.
    2. Jean Tirole & Roland Bénabou, 2006. "Incentives and Prosocial Behavior," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(5), pages 1652-1678, December.
    3. Nathalie Lazaric & Alain Raybaut, 2004. "Knowledge Creation Facing Hierarchy: The Dynamics of Groups Inside The Firm," Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, vol. 7(2), pages 1-3.
    4. Patrick Cohendet & Patrick Llerena, 2003. "Routines and incentives: the role of communities in the firm," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 12(2), pages 271-297, April.
    5. Zachary Grossman & Joël J. van der Weele, 2017. "Self-Image and Willful Ignorance in Social Decisions," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 15(1), pages 173-217.
    6. Nathalie Lazaric & Blandine Denis, 2001. "How and why routines change: some lessons from the articulation of knowledge with ISO 9002 implementation in the food industry," Post-Print hal-00457127, HAL.
    7. Becker, Markus C. & Salvatore, Pasquale & Zirpoli, Francesco, 2005. "The impact of virtual simulation tools on problem-solving and new product development organization," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(9), pages 1305-1321, November.
    8. Markus C. Becker & Pasquale Salvatore & Francesco Zirpoli, 2005. "The impact of virtual simulation tools on problem-solving and new product development organization," Post-Print hal-00279174, HAL.
    9. Jason Dana & Roberto Weber & Jason Kuang, 2007. "Exploiting moral wiggle room: experiments demonstrating an illusory preference for fairness," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 33(1), pages 67-80, October.
    10. Nathalie Lazaric, 2000. "The role of routines, rules and habits in collective learning: some epistemological and ontological considerations," Post-Print hal-00457133, HAL.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Agnès Festré & Nathalie Lazaric, 2007. "Routines and leadership in Schumpeter and von Mises' analysis of economic change," Post-Print halshs-00271338, HAL.
    2. Kirchkamp, Oliver & Strobel, Christina, 2019. "Sharing responsibility with a machine," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 25-33.
    3. Manuel Foerster & Joel (J.J.) van der Weele, 2018. "Denial and Alarmism in Collective Action Problems," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 18-019/I, Tinbergen Institute.
    4. Gneezy, Uri & Saccardo, Silvia & Serra-Garcia, Marta & van Veldhuizen, Roel, 2020. "Bribing the Self," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 120, pages 311-324.
    5. Fosgaard, Toke R. & Soetevent, Adriaan R., 2022. "I will donate later! A field experiment on cell phone donations to charity," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 202(C), pages 549-565.
    6. Tobias Regner, 2018. "Reciprocity under moral wiggle room: Is it a preference or a constraint?," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 21(4), pages 779-792, December.
    7. Ging-Jehli, Nadja R. & Schneider, Florian H. & Weber, Roberto A., 2020. "On self-serving strategic beliefs," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 341-353.
    8. Marie Claire Villeval, 2019. "Comportements (non) éthiques et stratégies morales," Revue économique, Presses de Sciences-Po, vol. 70(6), pages 1021-1046.
    9. Ismaël Rafaï & Mira Toumi, 2017. "Pay Attention or Be Paid for Attention? Impact of Incentives on Allocation of Attention," GREDEG Working Papers 2017-11, Groupe de REcherche en Droit, Economie, Gestion (GREDEG CNRS), Université Côte d'Azur, France.
    10. Tyran, Jean-Robert & Mechtenberg, Lydia & Perino, Grischa & Treich, Nicolas & Wang, Stephanie, 2021. "Self-Signaling in Moral Voting," CEPR Discussion Papers 15645, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    11. Michael Kurschilgen, 2023. "Moral awareness polarizes people’s fairness judgments," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 61(2), pages 339-364, August.
    12. Holm, Hakan J. & Samahita, Margaret, 2018. "Curating social image: Experimental evidence on the value of actions and selfies," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 83-104.
    13. Momsen, Katharina & Ohndorf, Markus, 2020. "When do people exploit moral wiggle room? An experimental analysis of information avoidance in a market setup," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    14. Hillenbrand, Adrian & Verrina, Eugenio, 2022. "The asymmetric effect of narratives on prosocial behavior," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 241-270.
    15. Lata Gangadharan & Philip J. Grossman & Nina Xue, 2022. "Stepping Stone: Identifying self-image concerns from motivated beliefs: Does it matter how and whom you ask?," Monash Economics Working Papers 2022-05, Monash University, Department of Economics.
    16. Danae Arroyos-Calvera & Rebecca McDonald & Daniel Read & Bruce Rigal, 2020. "Unpacking moral wiggle room: Information preferences and not information itself predict generosity," Discussion Papers 20-19, Department of Economics, University of Birmingham.
    17. Maja Adena & Steffen Huck, 2020. "Online Fundraising, Self-Image, and the Long-Term Impact of Ask Avoidance," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(2), pages 722-743, February.
    18. Paul Peigné, 2013. "Routines during an organizational change: a study on dynamics and its effects," Post-Print hal-00876163, HAL.
    19. Schmidt, Robert & Schwieren, Christiane & Vollmann, Martin, 2020. "The value of verbal feedback in allocation decisions," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    20. Capra, C. Mónica & Jiang, Bing & Su, Yuxin, 2024. "Green self-image boosts online volunteering for environmental causes: Experimental evidence," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 110(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:revepe:v:1:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1007_s43253-020-00015-2. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.