公共健康危机对健康行为的长期影响——来自SARS和COVID-19的证据

The Long-run Impact of Public Health Crises on Health Behavior:Evidence from the SARS Outbreak

本文利用SARS冲击及1998-2005年的城镇住户调查数据和双重差分法考察了公共健康危机对健康行为的影响。分析发现,SARS冲击后家庭中与健康行为相关的支出发生了长期的变化,并且经历SARS冲击后公众健康行为支出长期变化的地区在COVID-19大流行中具有更少的确诊及死亡人数;异质性分析发现,SARS冲击对与健康行为相关支出的积极影响主要发生在收入较高、信息较多及风险厌恶程度更高的组别。本研究对于我们全面总结COVID-19危机的影响并为下一次可能的危机做准备具有一定的政策意义。

Based on the SARS shock and 1998-2015 wave of Urban Household Survey data,this study evaluates the impact of public health crises on health behavior by using the difference-in-difference method.We find that health shocks such as SARS can operate as"natural nudges"that facilitate changes in expenditure of health behavior and lead to better outcomes in COVID-19 pandemic and that these types of shock-induced changes can have long-lasting effects.The positive impact of SARS on expenditure of health behavior is concentrated on those with higher income,more information,and more risk aversion.It shows that the SARS effect is significantly heterogeneous for different groups.The finding of this paper is of policy significance to comprehensively understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and prevent the future crises.