Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • 2020
  • Working Paper

Older People Are Less Pessimistic About the Health Risks of COVID-19

By: Pedro Bordalo, Katherine B. Coffman, Nicola Gennaioli and Andrei Shleifer
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
ShareBar

Abstract

A central question for understanding behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic, at both the individual and collective levels, is how people perceive the health and economic risks they face. We conducted a survey of over 1,500 Americans from May 6–13, 2020, to understand these risk perceptions. Here we report some preliminary results. Our most striking finding is that perceived personal health risks associated with COVID-19 fall sharply with age.

Keywords

Health Pandemics; Risk and Uncertainty; Perception; Age

Citation

Bordalo, Pedro, Katherine B. Coffman, Nicola Gennaioli, and Andrei Shleifer. "Older People Are Less Pessimistic About the Health Risks of COVID-19." NBER Working Paper Series, No. 27494, July 2020.
  • Read Now

About The Authors

Katherine B. Coffman

Negotiation, Organizations & Markets
→More Publications

Andrei Shleifer

Negotiation, Organizations & Markets
→More Publications

More from the Authors

    • May 2025
    • Review of Economic Studies

    Imagining the Future: Memory, Simulation and Beliefs

    By: Pedro Bordalo, Giovanni Burro, Katherine B. Coffman, Nicola Gennaioli and Andrei Shleifer
    • 2025
    • Faculty Research

    The Invention of Corporate Governance

    By: Yueran Ma and Andrei Shleifer
    • April 2025
    • Management Science

    Gender and Preferences for Performance Feedback

    By: Katherine Baldiga Coffman and David Klinowski
More from the Authors
  • Imagining the Future: Memory, Simulation and Beliefs By: Pedro Bordalo, Giovanni Burro, Katherine B. Coffman, Nicola Gennaioli and Andrei Shleifer
  • The Invention of Corporate Governance By: Yueran Ma and Andrei Shleifer
  • Gender and Preferences for Performance Feedback By: Katherine Baldiga Coffman and David Klinowski
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College.