TY - JOUR
T1 - Multiple hazards and risk perceptions over time: The availability heuristic in Italy and Sweden under COVID-19
AU - Baldassarre, Giuliano Di
AU - Mondino, Elena
AU - Rusca, Maria
AU - Giudice, Emanuele Del
AU - Mård, Johanna
AU - Ridolfi, Elena
AU - Scolobig, Anna
AU - Raffetti, Elena
N1 - Funding Information:
Acknowledgements. This research received funding by the European Research Council (ERC) within the project HydroSocialEx-tremes: Uncovering the Mutual Shaping of Hydrological Extremes and Society, consolidator grant no. 771678, H2020 Excellent Science.
Funding Information:
Financial support. This research has been supported by the Eu-
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Giuliano Di Baldassarre et al.
PY - 2021/11/12
Y1 - 2021/11/12
N2 - The severe impact of global crises, such as COVID-19 and climate change, is plausibly reshaping the way in which people perceive risks. In this paper, we examine and compare how global crises and local disasters influence public perceptions of multiple hazards in Italy and Sweden. To this end, we integrate information about the occurrence of hazardous events with the results of two nationwide surveys. These included more than 4000 participants and were conducted in two different phases of the COVID-19 pandemic corresponding to low (August 2020) and high (November 2020) levels of infection rates. We found that, in both countries, people are more worried about risks related to experienced events. This is in line with the cognitive process known as the availability heuristic: individuals assess the risk associated with a given hazard based on how easily it comes to their mind. Epidemics, for example, are perceived as less likely and more impactful in Italy compared to Sweden. This outcome can be explained by cross-country differences in the impact of, as well as governmental responses to, COVID-19. Notwithstanding the ongoing pandemic, people in both Italy and Sweden are highly concerned about climate change, and they rank it as the most likely threat.
AB - The severe impact of global crises, such as COVID-19 and climate change, is plausibly reshaping the way in which people perceive risks. In this paper, we examine and compare how global crises and local disasters influence public perceptions of multiple hazards in Italy and Sweden. To this end, we integrate information about the occurrence of hazardous events with the results of two nationwide surveys. These included more than 4000 participants and were conducted in two different phases of the COVID-19 pandemic corresponding to low (August 2020) and high (November 2020) levels of infection rates. We found that, in both countries, people are more worried about risks related to experienced events. This is in line with the cognitive process known as the availability heuristic: individuals assess the risk associated with a given hazard based on how easily it comes to their mind. Epidemics, for example, are perceived as less likely and more impactful in Italy compared to Sweden. This outcome can be explained by cross-country differences in the impact of, as well as governmental responses to, COVID-19. Notwithstanding the ongoing pandemic, people in both Italy and Sweden are highly concerned about climate change, and they rank it as the most likely threat.
U2 - 10.5194/nhess-21-3439-2021
DO - 10.5194/nhess-21-3439-2021
M3 - Article
SN - 1561-8633
VL - 21
SP - 3439
EP - 3447
JO - Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences
JF - Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences
IS - 11
ER -
