Panel Paper:
Vaccines at Work
Thursday, November 7, 2019
I.M Pei Tower: Majestic Level, Vail (Sheraton Denver Downtown)
*Names in bold indicate Presenter
Influenza imposes substantial costs worldwide in terms of human lives and productivity losses. Vaccination could be a cost-effective way to reduce these costs for firms and public health institutions, but low take-up rates, particularly of working adults, and vaccination unintendingly causing moral hazard may decrease its benefits. We ran a natural field experiment in partnership with a major bank in Ecuador where we experimentally modified its annual vaccination campaign. We find that assigning employees to get vaccinated during the workweek increased take-up by 112% compared to employees assigned to the weekend, which indicates that reducing opportunity costs plays an important role to increase vaccination rates. Peer take-up also increased individual take-up in a meaningful way. Contrary to expectations, we find that the effect of vaccination on flu diagnoses and sick days due to the flu is a precise zero. Using a dataset of administrative records on sick diagnoses and employee surveys, we find evidence consistent with moral hazard behavior, which could decrease the effectiveness of vaccination.
Full Paper:
- Hoffmann_Vaccines_at_Work.pdf (936.1KB)
