TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Costa-Font, Joan
AU  - Gatti, Nicolò
AU  - Turati, Gilberto
AU  - Wisen, Daniel
        TI  - COVID-19 Pandemic and Prosociality: An Experiment with Healthcare Professionals
        PY  - 2026/Jul/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 18796
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/publications/dp18796
        AB  - We study the extent to which exposure to COVID-19 relates to healthcare professionals’ prosociality. Drawing on empirical evidence from an incentivized experiment and a companion survey of healthcare professionals (HCPs) at a large Italian hospital (N = 194), we find that different forms of exposure to COVID-19 predict their altruistic motivation in heterogeneous ways. HCPs who worked in COVID-19 wards or had a close relative or friend severely affected by the virus are more than 5 percentage points more likely to prioritize patient welfare over personal gain, with the association for professional exposure being mostly driven by female HCPs, especially nurses. Conversely, personally contracting COVID-19 is associated with a 6 percentage point decline in prosociality. Our results highlight that different experiences of need shape prosocial behavior in hospital settings.
        KW  - COVID-19
KW  - provider altruism
KW  - healthcare professionals
KW  - medical decision-making
KW  - prosocial behavior
KW  - experiment
        ER  -