Is the Veil of Ignorance more than a Thought Experiment? An Empirical Application to Grocery Shopper Preferences during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

During the COVID-19 pandemic, grocery shoppers face a moral dilemma: to go inside the store or to use online alternatives, such as curbside pickup or home delivery to limit physical interaction. The veil of ignorance, a hypothetical state of mind, is an experimental tool used to nudge people toward the social welfare option during a decision-making process. We empirically test the effect of the veil of ignorance on grocery shopper preferences by implementing an online choice experiment with 613 U.S. consumers. Subjects who are veiled by ignorance about the state of the COVID-19 pandemic are not willing to pay significantly more for curbside pickup or home delivery than (unveiled) subjects in the control group. We also find heterogeneous effects by vaccination status. Consistent with limited evidence in the prior literature, the veil of ignorance is seemingly unable to induce moral choice behavior in real-world scenarios.