New study reveals the effects of lockdowns in shaping socioeconomic behaviors

Monash University research has found that campus-wide lockdowns at universities based in Northern China during the COVID-19 pandemic impacted university students’ value of trust, honesty, and creativity—behavioral traits that are crucial for positive socioeconomic development.

In the article published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Monash researchers Dr. Leo Bao and Professor Lata Gangadharan collaborated with researchers from the University of Hong Kong, Assistant Professor Jingcun Cao and Professor Chen Lin, and Assistant Professor Difang Huang from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, to understand how severely curtailed physical interaction shapes individual behaviors that are considered vital for socioeconomic development.

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in significant loss of life and widespread economic devastation worldwide. Between March 2020 and November 2022, China enacted lockdowns that forbade people from leaving their accommodations wherever there was a risk of community transmission to prevent the spread of the disease.

Research that suggests lockdowns effectively reduced virus transmission but may have negatively affected the physical and mental well-being of those involved is widespread, but literature addressing how lockdowns affect behaviors and cognitive performance essential to socioeconomic development is scarce.

To shed light on this, the team examined behavioral differences between university students from two campuses situated within the same city in Northern China, one of which experienced a 91-day campus-wide lockdown from 5 September to 5 December 2022, and the other which didn’t undergo such measures.

Students who experienced the lockdown were not allowed to leave their dormitory for 91 days during the lockdown period; the college delivered food and other daily necessities in a contactless manner. Students from the non-lockdown campus were free to move within the city. Teaching on both campuses was online during the lockdown period.

Dr. Leo Bao, from Monash Business School’s Department of Banking and Finance, said students participated in a series of experimental games measuring their trust, trustworthiness, risk preferences, competitiveness, honesty and creativity.

“Shortly after the lockdown ended, on 13 January 2023, we employed techniques from experimental economics and social psychology to measure the behavioral differences between groups with and without the lockdown experience,” said Dr. Bao.

“We found that those exposed to the lockdown were significantly more likely to trust others—they were 5.2 percentage points more likely to send money in the trust game; were 6.4 percentage points more likely to report honest answers in the lying game; and scored 1.3 points lower in the creativity game.

“We believe that the lower creativity among students may be attributed to reduced communication frequency with friends during the lockdown, mediating the lockdown’s impact.”

Professor Lata Gangadharan, from the Department of Economics in the Monash Business School, said that the study also revealed a gender-dependent trend, in that male students’ behaviors were significantly affected by the lockdown, while female students’ behaviors were not.

“We believed that the lack of private space and mobility during the lockdown may have had a greater impact on male students than female students,” said Professor Gangadharan.

“Specifically, the lockdown increased trust and honesty among male students but diminished their creativity. Integrating the behavioral data with administrative records from the university, we found male students also achieved lower academic scores one semester after the lockdown, implying that the lockdown’s impact may be lasting.

“Our research highlights how lockdowns, while effective in curbing virus transmission, also have far-reaching implications on critical behavioral traits, suggesting that lockdowns can influence socioeconomic development.

“The increased trust and honesty could foster positive social interactions, but the dip in creativity may hinder innovation—vital for economic growth and technological progress.”

Findings from these studies highlight the repercussions of lockdowns and offer insights into mitigating negative impacts in situations involving severely curtailed physical interactions. Understanding these dynamics is crucial for informing strategies to promote resilience and well-being in similar circumstances.

Dr. Leo Bao concluded, “More broadly, we expect our findings to be relevant in contexts where physical interaction with people from outside is limited. Occupations such as maritime trade, mining and military service often involve conditions similar to the lockdown observed in our study. Additionally, natural disasters such as pandemics, floods and bushfires can also lead to social isolation.”