Publication Type
Journal Article
Version
acceptedVersion
Publication Date
7-2021
Abstract
Will individuals, especially high-risk individuals, avoid a disease test because of information avoidance? We conduct a field experiment to investigate this issue. We vary the price of a diabetes test (price experiment) and offer both a diabetes test and a cancer test (disease experiment) after eliciting participants’ subjective beliefs about their disease risk. We find evidence that, first, some people avoid the test even when there is neither a monetary nor a transaction cost, and second, both low- and high-risk individuals select out of the test as the price increases. We explain our findings using three classes of models of anticipatory utility.
Keywords
Anticipation Utility, Information Avoidance, Health Anxiety, Health Screening
Discipline
Behavioral Economics | Finance and Financial Management | Public Health
Research Areas
Finance
Publication
Management Science
Volume
67
Issue
7
First Page
4252
Last Page
4272
ISSN
0025-1909
Identifier
10.1287/mnsc.2020.3723
Publisher
INFORMS
Embargo Period
7-9-2021
Citation
LI, Yufeng; MENG, Juanjuan; SONG, Changcheng; and ZHENG, Kai.
Information avoidance and medical screening: A field experiment in China. (2021). Management Science. 67, (7), 4252-4272.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research/6729
Copyright Owner and License
Authors
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2020.3723
Included in
Behavioral Economics Commons, Finance and Financial Management Commons, Public Health Commons