Pandemic Policy Online Survey

Unexpected effects of national social insurance on support for county-level public health policies

Using choice experiments from an online survey, we quantify the effect of federal UI on the trade-offs that individuals are willing to make with respect to county-level pandemic policies. When respondents are asked to assume that federal UI will be zero, they tend to be averse to losses in average household income but favorably disposed toward increased unemployment. With positive federal UI payments, however, respondents become more willing to accept losses in average household income but view increased unemployment less favorably.