This study investigates how people in Japan perceived the severity of and probability of infection from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), and how their willingness to purchase a hypothetical vaccine depends on these perceptions and their risk attitudes. We conducted a large-scale panel survey three times between 13 March to 13 April 2020 in Japan. By analyzing the data, we found that the perception of COVID-19 became more serious. The estimation of the fixed effect model reveals that a person becomes more willing to pay for a vaccine as the person evaluates COVID-19 as a more severe disease, considers a higher probability of infection, and becomes more risk averse. Since the sensitivity of willingness to pay for the vaccine on risk aversion increased during the period, the change in risk attitude contributed to an increase in willingness through the sensitivity channel, while it decreased through the magnitude channel.
We experimentally investigate the existence of the disposition effect and diminishing sensitivity as its potential cause. Our approach includes three key characteristics: (i) An environment closely resembling actual stock markets; (ii) Individual-specific reference prices; (iii) A direct test of diminishing sensitivity as a cause of the disposition effect. We find strong support for the existence of the disposition effect as an independent hypothesis. This is an improvement over previous studies, which tested this hypothesis only jointly with others. Our results also strongly point to diminishing sensitivity, of the type postulated by prospect theory, being a source of the disposition effect.
Livedoor, a famous Japanese IT company, experienced rapid growth through the overuse of a stock split strategy. Because of this strategy, the company faced a criminal investigation for suspicion of account rigging in January 2006. In this paper, I examine whether the Japanese stock split bubble burst not only because of system reform to make newly issued shares tradable on their ex-dates, but also because of the Livedoor shock. To explore this possibility, I evaluated data that were classified into specific categories: stock splits under the old system's conditions that prevented the trade of newly issued shares for about 50 days following the ex-date, stock splits under the new system's conditions, and news announced before and after the Livedoor shock. I estimated abnormal returns for each stock on their respective announcement dates. Results demonstrate that under the old system, trading restrictions for newly issued shares caused increases in stock prices, but the Livedoor shock stalled these increases for split stocks. These results suggest that the stock split bubble burst not only because of system reform but also because of changes in investor sentiment with regard to split stocks.
The coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine is key to reducing the probability of contracting COVID-19. The vaccine is generally known to prevent severe illness, death, and hospitalization as a result of the disease and for considerably reduce COVID-19 infection risk. Accordingly, this might significantly change an individual’s perceived risk of altering everyday behaviors. For instance, the proliferation of vaccination is anticipated to reduce preventive behaviors such as staying at home, handwashing, and wearing a mask. We corresponded with the same individuals monthly for 18 months from March 2020 (early stage of COVID-19) to September 2021 in Japan to independently construct large sample panel data (N = 54,007), with a participation rate of 54.7%. We used a fixed effects model, controlling for key confounders, to determine whether vaccination was associated with a change in preventive behaviors. The major findings are as follows. Contrary to the prediction, (1) based on the whole sample, being vaccinated against COVID-19 led people to stay at home; however, it did not change the habit of handwashing and wearing a mask. Especially after the second shot, respondents were likelier to stay at home by 0.107 (95% CIs: 0.059–0.154) points on a 5-point scale compared to before the vaccination. Dividing the entire sample into young and old, (2) those aged ≤ 40 years were more likely to go out after being vaccinated, and (3) people over 40 years of age were more likely to stay at home (similar to the first result). Preventive behaviors impact all individuals during the current pandemic. Informal social norms motivate people to increase or maintain preventive behaviors even after being vaccinated in societies where these behaviors are not enforced.
Vaccination has been promoted to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Vaccination is expected to reduce the probability of and alleviate the seriousness of COVID-19 infection. Accordingly, this might significantly change an individual’s subjective well-being and mental health. We observed the same individuals on a monthly basis from March 2020 to September 2021 in all parts of Japan. Then, large sample panel data (N = 54,007) were independently constructed. Using the data, we compared the individuals’ perceptions of COVID-19, subjective well-being, and mental health before and after vaccination. Furthermore, we compared the effect of vaccination on the perceptions of COVID-19 and mental health for females and males. We used the fixed-effects model to control for individual time-invariant characteristics. The major findings were as follows: First, the vaccinated people perceived the probability of getting infected and the seriousness of COVID-19 to be lower than before vaccination. This was observed not only when we used the whole sample but also when we used subsamples of males and a subsample of females. Second, subjective well-being and mental health improved. The same results were also observed using the subsample of females, whereas the improvements were not observed when using a subsample of males. This implies that females’ quality of life was more likely to be improved by vaccination than males’ one. The novelty of the work is to show the gender difference in the vaccination effects.
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