Loss aversion fails to replicate in the coronavirus pandemic: Evidence from an online experiment

Michael Sanders; Emma Stockdale; Susannah Hume; Peter John

doi:10.1016/j.econlet.2020.109433

Loss aversion fails to replicate in the coronavirus pandemic: Evidence from an online experiment

Econ Lett. 2021 Feb:199:109433. doi: 10.1016/j.econlet.2020.109433. Epub 2020 Jul 24.

Authors

Michael Sanders^{1

2}, Emma Stockdale¹, Susannah Hume¹, Peter John¹

Affiliations

¹ King's College London, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
² What Works for Children's Social Care, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Abstract

Loss aversion is a foundational bias and is a natural choice for interventions encouraging compliance during COVID-19. We compare the effectiveness of loss and gain messages and find no difference in the intention to comply with guidance or lockdown beliefs.

Keywords: Behavioural; COVID-19; Framing; Loss aversion; Prospect theory.