Person:
Becher, Michael

Loading...
Profile Picture
Email Address
Birth Date
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Job Title
First Name
Michael
Last Name
Becher
Affiliation
IE University
School
IE School of Politics, Economics & Global Affairs
Department
International Relations
Identifiers
Name

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
  • Publication
    From Anti-vax Intentions to Vaccination: Panel and Experimental Evidence from Nine Countries
    (2022-02) Galasso, Vincenzo; Pons, Vincent; Profeta, Paola; Becher, Michael; Brouard, Sylvain; Foucault, Martial; https://ror.org/02jjdwm75
    Millions of people refuse COVID-19 vaccination. Using original data from two surveys in nine OECD countries, we analyze the determinants of anti-vax intentions in December 2020 and show that half of the anti-vax individuals were vaccinated by summer 2021. Vaccinations were more likely among individuals aged 50+, exposed to COVID-19, compliant with public restrictions, more informed on traditional media, trusting scientists, and less concerned about vaccines’ side effects. We run a survey experiment with informational messages. In EU countries, a message about protecting health largely increases vaccinations, even among anti-vax individuals. In the U.K. and U.S., a message about protecting the economy generates similar effects. Our findings suggest that informational campaigns should adopt adequate narratives and address concerns about vaccines’ side effects.
  • Publication
    Addressing vaccine hesitancy: experimental evidence from nine high-income countries during the COVID-19 pandemic
    (BMJ Journals, 2023-09-22) Galasso, Vincenzo; Pons, Vincent; Profeta, Paola; McKee, Martin; Stuckler, David; Becher, Michael; Brouard, Sylvain; Foucault, Martial; French National Research Agency ; French region Nouvelle Aquitaine; https://ror.org/02jjdwm75
    We study the impact of public health messages on intentions to vaccinate and vaccination uptakes, especially among hesitant groups. We performed an experiment comparing the effects of egoistic and altruistic messages on COVID-19 vaccine intentions and behaviour. We administered different messages at random in a survey of 6379 adults in December 2020, following up with participants in the nationally representative survey Citizens' Attitudes Under COVID-19 Project covering nine high-income countries (Australia, Austria, France, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Sweden, the UK and the USA). Four alternative interventions were tested, based on narratives of (1) self-protection, (2) protecting others, (3) reducing health risks and (4) economic protection. We measure vaccination intentions in the December 2020 survey and elicit actual vaccination behaviour by respondents in the June/July 2021 survey. Messages conveying self-protection had no effect on vaccine intentions but altruistic messages, emphasising protecting other individuals (0.022, 95% CI -0.004 to 0.048), population health (0.030, 95% CI 0.003 to 0.056) and the economy (0.038, 95% CI 0.013 to 0.064) had substantially stronger effects. These effects were stronger in countries experiencing high COVID-19 mortality (Austria, France, Italy, Sweden, the UK and the USA), where health risks may have been more salient, but weaker and, in several cases, not significant where mortality was low (Australia, Germany and New Zealand). On follow-up at 6 months, these brief communication interventions corresponded to substantially higher vaccination uptake. Our experiments found that commonly employed narratives around self-protection had no effect. However, altruistic messages about protecting individuals, population health and the economy had substantially positive and enduring effects on increasing vaccination intentions. Our results can help structure communication campaigns during pandemics and are likely to generalise to other vaccine-preventable epidemics.
  • Publication
    Gender differences in COVID-19 attitudes and behavior: Panel evidence from eight countries
    (National Academy of Sciences, 2020-11-03) Galasso, Vincenzo; Pons, Vincent ; Profeta, Paola; Becher, Michael; Brouard, Sylvain; Foucault, Martial ; https://ror.org/02jjdwm75
    The initial public health response to the breakout of COVID-19 required fundamental changes in individual behavior, such as isolation at home or wearing masks. The effectiveness of these policies hinges on generalized public obedience. Yet, people's level of compliance may depend on their beliefs regarding the pandemic. We use original data from two waves of a survey conducted in March and April 2020 in eight Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries (n = 21,649) to study gender differences in COVID-19-related beliefs and behaviors. We show that women are more likely to perceive COVID-19 as a very serious health problem, to agree with restraining public policy measures, and to comply with them. Gender differences in attitudes and behavior are sizable in all countries. They are accounted for neither by sociodemographic and employment characteristics nor by psychological and behavioral factors. They are only partially mitigated for individuals who cohabit or have direct exposure to the virus. We show that our results are not due to differential social desirability bias. This evidence has important implications for public health policies and communication on COVID-19, which may need to be gender based, and it unveils a domain of gender differences: behavioral changes in response to a new risk.
  • Publication
    ‘Citizens’ Attitudes Under Covid19’ a cross-country panel survey of public opinion in 11 advanced democracies
    (Nature Research, 2022) Brouard, Sylvain; Foucault, Martial; Michel, Elie; Becher, Michael; Vasilopoulos, Pavlos; Bono, Pierre Henri; Sormani, Nicolas; Becher, Michael; World Bank Group; Harvard Business School; McGill University; National Bureau of Economic Research; University of Edinburgh; Agence Nationale de la Recherche; European University Institute; Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique; Bocconi University; Agence Française de Développement; https://ror.org/02jjdwm75
    This article introduces data collected in the Citizens’ Attitudes Under Covid-19 Project (CAUCP),which surveyed public opinion throughout the Covid-19 pandemic in 11 democracies between March and December 2020. In this paper,we present a unique cross-country panel survey of citizens’ attitudes and behaviors during a worldwide unprecedented health,governance,and economic crisis. This dataset investigates the behavioral and attitudinal consequences of multifaceted Covid19 crisis across time and contexts. In this paper,we describe the design of the CAUCP and the descriptive features of the dataset; we also present promising research prospects. © 2022,The Author(s).