Information Provision Over the Phone Saves Lives: An RCT to Contain COVID-19 in Rural Bangladesh at the Pandemic's Onset

Lack of information about COVID-19 and its spread may have contributed to excess mortality at the pandemic's onset. In April and May 2020, we implemented a randomized controlled trial with more than 3,000 households in 150 Bangladeshi villages. Our one-to-one information campaign via phone stressed the importance of social distancing and hygiene measures, and illustrated the consequences of an exponential spread of COVID-19. We find that information provision improves knowledge about COVID-19 and induces significant behavioral changes. Information provision also yields considerably better health outcomes, most importantly by reducing the number of reported deaths by about 50% in treated villages.

Keywords: field experiment, COVID-19, information intervention, death rates

JEL Classification: C93, D01, D91, I12

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Chowdhury, Shyamal and Schildberg-Hörisch, Hannah and Schneider, Sebastian O. and Sutter, Matthias, Information Provision Over the Phone Saves Lives: An RCT to Contain COVID-19 in Rural Bangladesh at the Pandemic's Onset. IZA Discussion Paper No. 15768, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4294393 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4294393