PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Dhaval Dave
AU  - Andrew Friedson
AU  - Kyutaro Matsuzawa
AU  - Joseph J. Sabia
AU  - Samuel Safford
TI  - Black Lives Matter Protests and Risk Avoidance
AID  - 10.3368/jhr.0121-11463R1
DP  - 2023 May 08
TA  - Journal of Human Resources
PG  - 0121-11463R1
4099  - http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/early/2023/05/01/jhr.0121-11463R1.short
4100  - http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/early/2023/05/01/jhr.0121-11463R1.full
AB  - This study examines the impacts of summer 2020 Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests on risk avoidance behaviors. Using daily anonymized smartphone data on social mobility and an event-study approach, we find that net stay-at-home behavior increased following protest onset. This result is consistent with avoidance behaviors in response to perceived risk of COVID-19 infection and protest-related violence. Furthermore, we find that BLM protests reduced local activities that were potentially riskier for infection than outdoor protests: restaurant and bar-going and retail shopping. We conclude that risk avoidance behaviors help to explain why BLM protests did not lead to local COVID-19 spread.