Diminishing returns: Nudging Covid-19 prevention among Colombian young adults

Abstract

Nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) like social distancing, face masks, and handwashing will continue to be a frontline defense against Covid-19 for some time. But their effectiveness depends critically on compliance by young adults, who are most likely both to become infected and to infect others. We conducted a randomized controlled trial in Bogotá, Colombia, to assess the effectiveness of informational nudges emphasizing the private and public benefits of compliance on university students’ concern about Covid-19, recent compliance with NPI recommendations, and intended future compliance. Although nudges boosted concern, they had limited effects on either recent or intended future compliance. We attribute these null results to high baseline levels of information about and compliance with NPIs, an informational diminishing returns scenario that is likely to be increasingly common globally.