Friday, April 10, 2020

How Does Household Spending Respond to an Epidemic? Consumption During the 2020 COVID-19 Pandemic

Baker, Scott R. and Farrokhnia, R.A. and Meyer, Steffen and Pagel, Michaela and Yannelis, Constantine, How Does Household Spending Respond to an Epidemic? Consumption During the 2020 COVID-19 Pandemic (March 31, 2020). SSRN: http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3565521

Abstract: We explore how household consumption responds to epidemics, utilizing transaction-level household financial data to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 virus. As the number of cases grew, households began to radically alter their typical spending across a number of major categories. Initially spending increased sharply, particularly in retail, credit card spending and food items. This was followed by a sharp decrease in overall spending. Households responded most strongly in states with shelter-in-place orders in place by March 29th. We explore heterogeneity across partisan affiliation, demographics and income. Greater levels of social distancing are associated with drops in spending, particularly in restaurants and retail.

Keywords: Consumption, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Household Finance, Transaction Data
JEL Classification: D14, E21, G51

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Women and conservatives were more prone to stockpiling in the early phase of the COVID-19 outbreak in the US

Kids These Days: Overall, however, the results represent a challenge to the dominant narrative that social skills are declining due to technological change

Douglas B. Downey and Benjamin G. Gibbs, "Kids These Days: Are Face-to-Face Social Skills among American Children Declining?," American Journal of Sociology 125, no. 4 (January 2020): 1030-1083. https://doi.org/10.1086/707985

Abstract: Many social commentators posit that children’s social skills are declining as a result of exposure to technology. But this claim is difficult to assess empirically because it is challenging to measure “social skills” with confidence and because a strong test would employ nationally representative data of multiple cohorts. No scholarship currently meets these criteria. The authors fill that gap by comparing teachers’ and parents’ evaluations of children’s social skills among children in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study 1998 and 2010 cohorts. The authors find no evidence that teachers or parents rate children’s face-to-face social skills as poorer among more recent cohorts, even when accounting for family characteristics, screen time use, and other factors. In addition, within cohorts, children with heavy exposure to screens exhibit similar social skills trajectories compared to children with little exposure to screens. There is a notable exception—social skills are lower for children who access online gaming and social networking many times a day. Overall, however, the results represent a challenge to the dominant narrative that social skills are declining due to technological change.


Tattoo Visibility Status, Egalitarianism, and Personality are Predictors of Sexual Openness Among Women

Showing Skin: Tattoo Visibility Status, Egalitarianism, and Personality are Predictors of Sexual Openness Among Women. Kaylee Skoda, Flora Oswald, Kailie Brown, Cassandra Hesse & Cory L. Pedersen. Sexuality & Culture, Apr 9 2020. https://rd.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12119-020-09729-1

Abstract: Research indicates that women with tattoos are evaluated more negatively than women without tattoos on numerous qualities. Further, men perceive better chances for sexual success with tattooed women than those without visible tattoos. Despite these findings, less is known about whether women with visible tattoos are more open to casual sexual encounters than their non-tattooed counterparts, and if so, what variables may predict such openness. The purpose of the present study was to explore whether, and to what extent, stereotyped perceptions of tattooed women as sexually open are accurate, and to explore the possible role of egalitarianism in sexual openness. Measures of personality and sensation-seeking were also examined. A sample of 814 women, both tattooed and non-tattooed, were recruited through a Western Canadian university research pool and various social media outlets to complete an online questionnaire assessing these attributes. Women with tattoos reported greater willingness to engage in uncommitted sexual relations, as well as higher endorsement of egalitarianism and sensation-seeking, relative to non-tattooed women. Among tattooed women alone, several personality and tattooing variables predicted sexual openness. Findings suggesting body tattooing as an indicator of sexual openness are critically discussed in relation to contemporary stereotypes surrounding femininity and sexuality.



We show that relationship satisfaction and infidelity are associated and that the influence of infidelity on relationship satisfaction is greater for women than for men

Translated from German...

Relationship Satisfaction and Infidelity: One Connection, Two Directions. Christiane Bozoyan & Claudia Schmiedeberg. KZfSS Cologne Journal of Sociology and Social Psychology, Apr 9 2020. https://rd.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11577-020-00660-9

Summary: How do unfaithful behavior in a relationship and satisfaction relate to the partnership? At first, the influence of relationship quality on loyalty behavior seems plausible: the more dissatisfied a partner is in a relationship, the more likely he or she is to seek external relations. However, this does not rule out the possibility that the quality of the partnership or its assessment may also change from the perspective of the perpetrator, e.g. due to conflicts and marital crises triggered by infidelity, or to reduce feelings of cognitive dissonance. Using fixed-effects models based on data from the relationship and family panel pairfam over the observation period 2008 to 2016, we examine both possible longitudinal-average modes of effect with a 1- and 2-year interval between the measurement times. It turns out that there are interactions between the two factors, with the impact of infidelity on relationship satisfaction in women being greater than in men. While the relationship between relationship satisfaction and infidelity risk is rather low, it is shown that the risk of going abroad increases significantly when the long-term orientation in the relationship decreases.

Abstract: How are unfaithful behavior and relationship satisfaction connected? It seems plausible that relationship quality has an influence on unfaithfulness: the less satisfied a partner is in a relationship, the more he or she will look for external relations. However, this does not exclude that relationship quality changes after the infidelity episode, for example, due to conflicts and marriage crises triggered by the unfaithfulness or to reduce feelings of cognitive dissonance. Using fixed-effects models based on data from the German Family Panel pairfam during an observation period from 2008 to 2016, we investigated both causal pathways with a longitudinal design and measurement points 1 or 2 years apart. We show that relationship satisfaction and infidelity are associated and that the influence of infidelity on relationship satisfaction is greater for women than for men. Although the association between relationship satisfaction and risk of infidelity is relatively low, it is shown that the risk of being unfaithful increases sharply if long-term commitment to the relationship decreases.

Participants perceive actors who demonstrate virtue in public to be less virtuous than actors who demonstrate virtue in private, and, critically, this effect is greater for generosity than impartiality

Kraft-Todd, Gordon, Max Kleiman-Weiner, and Liane Young. 2020. “Differential Virtue Discounting: Public Generosity Is Seen as More Selfish Than Public Impartiality.” PsyArXiv. March 25. doi:10.31234/osf.io/zqpv7

Abstract: There is a paradox in our desire to be seen as virtuous. If we do not overtly display our virtues, others will not be able to see them; yet, if we do overtly display our virtues, others may think that we do so only for social credit. Here, we investigate how virtue signaling works across two distinct virtues—generosity and impartiality—in eleven online experiments (total N=4,586). We demonstrate the novel phenomenon of differential virtue discounting, revealing that participants perceive actors who demonstrate virtue in public to be less virtuous than actors who demonstrate virtue in private, and, critically, that this effect is greater for generosity than impartiality. Further, we provide evidence for the mechanism underlying these judgments, showing that they are mediated by perceived selfish motivations. We discuss how these findings and our novel terminology can shed light on open questions in the social perception of reputation and motivation.