To stop the contagion of COVID-19 and gradually be able to return to normal life, it is essential to use the tools of behavioral economics to motivate appropriate changes in behaviors.

In this document:

We describe the behavioral biases that people exhibit during the crisis
Presents recommendations on how to overcome these biases
It offers practical guides for governments and infographics ready to be used in the fight against this pandemic.

This document provides practical guidance for designing behavioral economics-informed communications and interventions to contain the spread of COVID-19. How and with what materials should we communicate to counteract the deep behavioral biases that we all have and that are accentuated in situations of stress, fatigue and uncertainty? How to get people to follow the health recommendations when they return to their places of work or study? This guide helps answer these questions and provides clues and concrete examples of how communications can promote behavior change.

If you missed it, you can watch the recording of the webinar here (in English):

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Being able to follow the chain of contagion of COVID-19 is important to help save lives and control the epidemic without sustained costly lockdowns.

This is especially relevant in Latin America, where economic contractions have already been the largest in the regions history.

Given the high rates of transmission of COVID-19, relying only in manual contact tracing might be infeasible.

The COVID-19 pandemic is a global crisis that has forced governments around the world to implement large-scale interventions such as school closures and national lockdowns.

Previous research has shown that partisanship plays a major role in explaining public attitudes towards these policies and beliefs about the severity of the crisis.

The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated how much public policies' effectiveness depends on the willingness of citizens to undertake measures where individual private costs outweigh benefits but societal benefits outweigh public costs.

One such instance of positive externalities is the use of self-diagnostic apps and contact tracing apps.

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, knowledge on how infection can be prevented has increased significantly.

Social distancing and avoiding indoor gatherings, for example, have emerged as some of the most powerful and effective preventive behaviors. Yet, despite the strength of the evidence on the dangers of close social contact, many people have continued to gather with friends and participate in social events which help the virus to spread.