Exploring the Impact of the US’s Lottery Incentives on COVID-19 Vaccination Rates

ABSTRACT

Many states in the US have carried out lotteries with tantalizing prizes to reduce the covid-19 vaccine hesitancy. However, there has yet been a consensus regarding the effectiveness of such incentives. This study conducts a synthetic control analysis for each treated state, to provide a better understanding of the influence that the lottery programs have made on the vaccination rates across different states. However, for all treated states, no evidence is found for the effects of the lotteries. Next, the article investigates the impact of people's policy ideology on the prediction of the vaccination rates under the synthetic control models. Within each treated state, counties are categorized into two regions according to their political affiliation. The comparison of the treatment effects between the two regions indicates that there is no relationship between people's policy ideology and the vaccination rates. © 2021 ACM.