Biases in COVID-19 Medical Resource Dilemmas

Accruing evidence suggest that COVID-19 is more fatal for males and minorities than other sub-populations. In this paper, we study medical dilemmas pertaining to the allocation of medical resources to evaluate whether existing social biases correspond to the demographic disparities of the pandemic. We develop and implement a choice experiment in which participants decide how to allocate scarce medical resources among COVID-19 patients with diverse demographic attributes. We find that participants violate optimal resource allocation significantly more often for the benefit of females. Males are almost half as likely to receive lifesaving resources even if these are medically more beneficial for them. We also find that participants are less likely to assign resources to patients with high compared to low income. Last, we find no evidence of patients' race affecting allocation preferences.