Timothée Demont

We study the effect of providing Covid-related economic and mental health information on emotional state, cognitive ability, and economic preferences. In an online experiment, around 1500 students were either shown an article about the labor market or mental health consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic, or one of two control articles. We find that those who read a Covid-related article on average report feeling worse and more tired than those asked before reading the articles or those that read one of the control articles. Those that read about the mental health consequences also indicate feeling more nervous. On average, we do not find a significant treatment effect on cognitive performance, cognitive reasoning, or risk-taking measured in a series of incentivized tasks. However, we highlight important heterogeneity and significant treatment effects for particular vulnerable group. Moreover, a second cross-treatment, conditioning payment to a 50% threshold, generates a counter-intuitive positive treatment effect. We discuss potential mechanisms.