Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP15119
Authors: Roberto Galbiati; Emeric Henry; Nicolas Jacquemet; Max Lobeck
Abstract: Laws not only affect behavior due to changes in material payoffs, but they may also change theperception individuals have of societal norms, either by shifting them directly or by providinginformation on these norms. Using detailed daily survey data and exploiting the introductionof lockdown measures in the UK in the context of the COVID-19 health crisis, we providecausal evidence that the law drastically changed the perception of the norms regarding socialdistancing behaviors. We show this effect of laws on perceived norms is mostly driven by aninformational channel.
Keywords: laws; norms; expressive function; misperception; COVID-19
JEL Codes: K1; I12; I18
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| misperceptions before lockdown (E71) | gap between actual normative beliefs and perceived norms (D83) |
| UK lockdown announcement (E60) | change in perceptions of social distancing norms (Z13) |
| UK lockdown announcement (E60) | individuals' perceptions of social distancing norms (Z13) |
| UK lockdown announcement (E60) | belief that others perceive social distancing measures as important (Z13) |
| UK lockdown announcement (E60) | correction of misperceptions (D91) |