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Objectives The purpose of this study is to show that social distancing is a public good under the COVID-19 pandemic. Study design We apply economic theory to analyze a cross-sectional survey. Methods Economic theory is complemented with empirical evidence. An online survey of those aged 30-49 in Japan (n=2,177) was conducted between April 28 - May 7. Respondents were selected by quota sampling with regard to age group, gender and prefecture of residence. Our main figure shows the proportion of people who increased/did not change/decreased social distancing, relative to the level of altruism and sensitivity to public shaming. The results of OLS and logit models are shown in Supplementary Materials. Results Social distancing is a public good under the COVID-19 pandemic, for which the free-rider problem is particularly severe. Altruism and social norms are crucial factors in overcoming this problem. Using an original survey, we show that people with higher altruistic concerns and sensitivity to shaming are more likely to follow social-distancing measures. Conclusions Altruism and social norms are important for reducing the economic cost of the pandemic.

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