Learning during a crisis
Subtitle: the SARS epidemic in Taiwan
By: Daniel Bennett, Chun-Fang Chiang, Anup Malani
Contributors: Chiang, Chun-Fang; Malani, Anup; National Bureau of Economic Research
Series: NBER working paper series -- working paper 16955; Working paper series (National Bureau of Economic Research) -- working paper 16955
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research
Published: 2011
Place of publication: Cambridge, MA
Language: eng
Number of pages: 48
Subjects: SARS (Disease); Social learning; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome; Psychology; Disease Outbreaks
Description: When SARS struck Taiwan in the spring of 2003, many people feared that the disease would spread through the health care system. As a result, outpatient medical visits fell by over 30 percent in the course of a few weeks. This paper examines how both public information (SARS incidence reports) and private information (the behavior and opinions of peers) contributed to this public reaction. We identify social learning through a difference-in-difference strategy that compares longtime community residents to recent arrivals, who are less socially connected. We find that people learned from both public and private sources during SARS. A dynamic simulation based on the regressions shows that social learning magnified and lengthened the response to SARS.
Notes: "April 2011."

Includes bibliographical references (p. 28-30).

Also issued online.