The Effect of Being Vaccinated and National Vaccination Rates on Individuals' Cognitions, Emotions, and Economic Expectations: Evidence from Israel.

BACKGROUND: Israel was the first nation to establish a vaccination program during the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, its citizens could look to no other country to help them judge its influence. People's predictions of their safety should depend on whether they were vaccinated, whereas their predictions regarding the COVID-19 pandemic should be based on the degree of progress of the vaccination program. We expected people to understand that the program would improve their safety by reducing the number of infected people around them. METHOD: An original panel survey was conducted covering the pandemic's first year. Respondents reported their vaccination status, emotions, evaluations of their safety, and predictions about the spread of COVID-19 and the Israeli gross domestic product. RESULTS: Estimates of fixed-effects models using the survey data suggest that being vaccinated affected people's cognitions about their own safety and their emotions but not their expectations regarding the situation in Israel as a whole. In contrast, the vaccination rate in Israel affected only the respondents' expectations about the spread of COVID-19, their own income, and Israel's gross domestic product. CONCLUSIONS: Being vaccinated is important for people's personal emotional and cognitive relief during a pandemic. A high vaccination rate improves people's economic expectations, which is important to the recovery of economic activity.

Surname order and revaccination intentions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Teachers in Japanese schools employ alphabetical surname lists that call students sooner, with surnames appearing early on these lists. We conducted Internet surveys nearly every month from March 2020 to September 2022 with the same participants, wherein we asked participants where the alphabetical columns of their childhood and adult surnames were located. We aimed to identify how surname order is important for the formation of noncognitive skills. During the data collection period, the COVID-19 vaccines became available; Japanese people could receive their third dose starting in December 2021. The 19th wave of the survey was conducted in January 2022. Therefore, to examine how a surname's alphabetical order could influence intention to revaccinate, we used a subsample of data from December 2021 to September 2022. The major findings were as follows. Women with early surnames had an approximately 4% stronger likelihood of having such intentions than men with early surnames. Early name order was more strongly correlated with revaccination intention among women than among men. The surname effect for women was larger when a mixed-gender list was used compared with when it was not used. This effect was only observed for childhood surnames and not for adult surnames.

Association between the COVID-19 Vaccine and Preventive Behaviors: Panel Data Analysis from Japan.

The coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine is key to reducing the probability of contracting COVID-19. The vaccine is generally known to prevent severe illness, death, and hospitalization as a result of the disease and for considerably reduce COVID-19 infection risk. Accordingly, this might significantly change an individual's perceived risk of altering everyday behaviors. For instance, the proliferation of vaccination is anticipated to reduce preventive behaviors such as staying at home, handwashing, and wearing a mask. We corresponded with the same individuals monthly for 18 months from March 2020 (early stage of COVID-19) to September 2021 in Japan to independently construct large sample panel data (N = 54,007), with a participation rate of 54.7%. We used a fixed effects model, controlling for key confounders, to determine whether vaccination was associated with a change in preventive behaviors. The major findings are as follows. Contrary to the prediction, (1) based on the whole sample, being vaccinated against COVID-19 led people to stay at home; however, it did not change the habit of handwashing and wearing a mask. Especially after the second shot, respondents were likelier to stay at home by 0.107 (95% CIs: 0.059-0.154) points on a 5-point scale compared to before the vaccination. Dividing the entire sample into young and old, (2) those aged ≤ 40 years were more likely to go out after being vaccinated, and (3) people over 40 years of age were more likely to stay at home (similar to the first result). Preventive behaviors impact all individuals during the current pandemic. Informal social norms motivate people to increase or maintain preventive behaviors even after being vaccinated in societies where these behaviors are not enforced.

Gender Differences of the Effect of Vaccination on Perceptions of COVID-19 and Mental Health in Japan.

Vaccination has been promoted to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Vaccination is expected to reduce the probability of and alleviate the seriousness of COVID-19 infection. Accordingly, this might significantly change an individual's subjective well-being and mental health. We observed the same individuals on a monthly basis from March 2020 to September 2021 in all parts of Japan. Then, large sample panel data (N = 54,007) were independently constructed. Using the data, we compared the individuals' perceptions of COVID-19, subjective well-being, and mental health before and after vaccination. Furthermore, we compared the effect of vaccination on the perceptions of COVID-19 and mental health for females and males. We used the fixed-effects model to control for individual time-invariant characteristics. The major findings were as follows: First, the vaccinated people perceived the probability of getting infected and the seriousness of COVID-19 to be lower than before vaccination. This was observed not only when we used the whole sample but also when we used subsamples of males and a subsample of females. Second, subjective well-being and mental health improved. The same results were also observed using the subsample of females, whereas the improvements were not observed when using a subsample of males. This implies that females' quality of life was more likely to be improved by vaccination than males' one. The novelty of the work is to show the gender difference in the vaccination effects.

Dose birthweight matter to quality of life? A comparison between Japan, the U.S., and India.

BACKGROUND: Birthweight is a widely accepted indicator of infant health and has significant and lasting associations. Several studies have found that low and high birthweight have significant negative associations with adult health. A new study in the field of social sciences has established that birthweight has significant negative associations with not only adult health but also social attributes, such as income and occupation; however, no studies have evaluated the associations between birthweight and quality-of-life (QOL) attributes such as happiness. METHODS: In this study, we use data from Japan, the U.S., and India, collected in 2011, in which the respondents were asked about their own birthweights to examine the long-term associations between low and high birthweight and eight outcome variables related to the QOL: adolescent academic performance, height, education, marital status, body mass index, income, health, and happiness. We regressed each of the eight outcome variables on low and high birthweight and the interaction terms of the old age and the birthweight dummies for each country. We estimated both the reduced and the recursive-structural forms. While the former estimates the total, that is, the sum of direct and indirect associations between birthweight and each outcome, the latter reports the direct association between birthweight and each outcome. RESULTS: In Japan, while low birthweight is negatively associated with all outcomes, the associations of high birthweight were limited. In the U.S., low birthweight was not associated with any outcomes, but high birthweight had significantly negative associations with health and happiness. In contrast, in India, high birthweight was significantly and positively associated with income, health, and happiness, while low birthweight was associated with several outcomes negatively, similar to Japan. These associations were stronger in youth than in old age. CONCLUSION: Our study demonstrated that the associations of birthweight with QOL are widely diversified across countries: low birthweight, rather than high birthweight, is a problem in Japan and India. However, the opposite is true for the U.S., indicating that policymakers in developed countries must pay closer attention to the problems caused by high birthweight, whereas those in developing countries are better to focus on low birthweight.

How does risk preference change under the stress of COVID-19? Evidence from Japan.

In this study, we investigated whether the risk preference systematically changed during the spread of COVID-19 in Japan. Traditionally, risk preference is assumed to be stable over one's life, though it differs among individuals. While recent studies have reported that it changes with a large event like natural disasters and financial crisis, they have not reached a consensus on its direction, risk aversion, or tolerance. We collected panel data of Japanese individuals in five waves from March to June 2020, which covered the period of the first cycle when COVID-19 spread rapidly and then dwindled. We measured risk preference through questions on the willingness to pay for insurance. The main results are as follows: First, people became more risk tolerant throughout the period; and second, people were more averse to mega risk than moderate risk, with the former correlating more strongly with the individual's perception of COVID-19. The first result may be interpreted as "habituation" to repeated stress, as is understood in neuroscience. Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11166-022-09374-z.

How does the impact of the COVID-19 state of emergency change? An analysis of preventive behaviors and mental health using panel data in Japan.

This study applies the difference-in-difference method on panel data collected from internet surveys to investigate changes in the preventive behaviors and mental health of individuals as influenced by the COVID-19 state of emergency declaration between March and June 2020. The key findings are: (1) The declaration led people to exhibit preventive behaviors but also generated negative emotions; (2) Such behaviors persisted even after deregulation of the state of emergency; (3) Making the declaration early (vs. late) had a larger effect on preventive behavior, with the gap between residents' behaviors for areas that made early vs. late declarations persisting after the deregulation; and (4) The effects on mental health diminished during the state of emergency and disappeared after its deregulation.

Is stronger religious faith associated with a greater willingness to take the COVID-19 vaccine? Evidence from Israel and Japan.

Achieving high vaccination rates is important for overcoming an epidemic. This study investigates the association between religious faith and intentions to become vaccinated against COVID-19 in Israel and Japan. Most of Israel's population is monotheistic, whereas most Japanese are unaffiliated with any religion. Therefore, our findings might be applicable to various countries that differ in their religions and levels of religiosity. We conducted almost identical large-scale surveys four times in Israel and five times in Japan from March to June 2020 to obtain panel data. We found that intentions of getting vaccinated depend on people's level of religiosity in a non-linear way. Those who have strong religious beliefs are less likely to become vaccinated than those who say they are less religious. Two other factors that play a role in this relationship are religious denomination in Israel and identifying with a religion in Japan.

Racers' attractive looks, popularity, and performance: how do speedboat racers react to fans' expectations?

Using a large sample of individual-level records in Japan speedboat racing where men and women racers participate, we investigated how racers' performance meets fans' pre-race expectations. To control for endogeneity bias, we measured the order of racers' attractiveness randomly determined in each race and then used this order as instrument for measuring racers' popularity. The fixed-effects IV estimations revealed the following. (1) Racers who are more attractive than their competitors tend to be more popular even after controlling for the condition of the race, racer ability, and other characteristics. (2) More popular men show better performance in the race even if the reward does not vary according to popularity; such tendency is not observed for women. This study contributes a novel setting for determining the expectation-enhancing effects of physical attractiveness.

The Willingness to Pay for a Hypothetical Vaccine for the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).

This study investigates how people in Japan perceived the severity of and probability of infection from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), and how their willingness to purchase a hypothetical vaccine depends on these perceptions and their risk attitudes. We conducted a large-scale panel survey three times between 13 March to 13 April 2020 in Japan. By analyzing the data, we found that the perception of COVID-19 became more serious. The estimation of the fixed effect model reveals that a person becomes more willing to pay for a vaccine as the person evaluates COVID-19 as a more severe disease, considers a higher probability of infection, and becomes more risk averse. Since the sensitivity of willingness to pay for the vaccine on risk aversion increased during the period, the change in risk attitude contributed to an increase in willingness through the sensitivity channel, while it decreased through the magnitude channel.

Extraversion and life satisfaction: A cross-cultural examination of student and nationally representative samples.

OBJECTIVE: Previous research on Extraversion and life satisfaction suggests that extraverted individuals are more satisfied with their lives. However, existing studies provide inflated effect sizes, as they were based on simple correlations. In five studies, the authors provide better estimates of the relationship between Extraversion and life satisfaction. METHOD: The current study examined student and nationally representative samples from Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Japan (Study 1, N = 1,460; Study 2, N = 5,882; Study 3, N = 18,683; Study 4, N = 13,443; Study 5, Japan N = 952 and U.S. N = 891). The relationship between Extraversion and life satisfaction was examined using structural equation modeling by regressing life satisfaction on the Big Five traits. RESULTS: Extraversion was a unique predictor of life satisfaction in the North American student and nationally representative samples (Study 1, ß = .232; Study 2, ß = .225; Study 5, ß = .217), but the effect size was weaker or absent in other non-North American samples (Germany, United Kingdom, and Japan). CONCLUSIONS: The findings attest to the moderating role of culture on Extraversion and life satisfaction and the importance of controlling for shared method variance.

Comparing the role of the height of men and women in the marriage market.

This paper explores how the role of men and women's height in the marriage market has changed across generations. Using individual-level data from Japan, we compared the effect of height on marriages between men and women, and investigated how the effect of height on marriage has changed across generations. Our key findings are: (1) for men born before 1965, a 1% increase in height led to an approximately 0.56% increase in the probability of being married. Conversely, for women born before 1965, a 1% increase in height led to an approximately 0.56% decrease in the probability of being married. (2) For men born in or after 1965, a 1% increase in height led to an approximately 1.05% (0.18%) increase (decrease) in the probability of being married (divorced). However, the height effect was not present for women. Japan experienced astounding economic development after World War II, which resulted in changes in its economic and social structure. These changes may have also altered the role of height for Japanese men and women in the marriage market.

Cultural variations in global versus local processing: a developmental perspective.

We conducted 3 studies to explore cultural differences in global versus local processing and their developmental trajectories. In Study 1 (N = 363), we found that Japanese college students were less globally oriented in their processing than American or Argentine participants. We replicated this effect in Study 2 (N = 1,843) using a nationally representative sample of Japanese and American adults ages 20 to 69, and found further that adults in both cultures became more globally oriented with age. In Study 3 (N = 133), we investigated the developmental course of the cultural difference using Japanese and American children, and found it was evident by 4 years of age. Cultural variations in global versus local processing emerge by early childhood, and remain throughout adulthood. At the same time, both Japanese and Americans become increasingly global processors with age.

A policy to promote influenza vaccination: a behavioral economic approach.

The aims of this study were to identify the predictors of people's willingness to be vaccinated against influenza and to determine how to improve the inoculation rate. The study was based upon the results of our original large-scale survey conducted in the USA in 2005. A model of bounded rationality can explain vaccination behavior fairly well: (a) people evaluate the costs and benefits of vaccination by applying risk aversion and time preference; (b) the 'status quo bias' of those who were vaccinated in the past affects their decision to be vaccinated in the future; and (c) overconfidence indirectly affects the decision through the moderation of perceived variables. Policy implications include: (a) dissemination of information about the vaccine is especially important among people who are inexperienced with the vaccine since they undervalue the effectiveness of vaccination; (b) lowering the total cost of vaccination, including time costs (for example, by offering the vaccine at workplaces) may raise the inoculation rate, especially among those inexperienced with the vaccine, since those who have experience with the vaccine tend to take it on a regular basis.

Koizumi carried the day: Did the Japanese election results make people happy and unhappy?

This paper investigates whether the Japanese people were happy and unhappy with the general election conducted on September 11, 2005, in which the Prime Minister, Koizumi, won a landslide victory. We conducted a large survey just after the election to ask people how happy they were and which party they had supported. Although there are consistent tendencies that supporters of ruling parties were happier and supporters of opposition parties were unhappier, the effect was not significant. Considering the results of previous studies that showed that Americans demonstrated significant responses to the result of a presidential election, this study suggests that the Japanese people are indifferent to politics.