Research Debunks Perception That State Or National Lines Offer Protection From Swine Flu

As panic surrounding the spread of swine flu heightens following the World Health Organization’s declaration of a global pandemic, many may be fooling themselves into believing that their state or national border can provide protection from the virus, based on new research from NYU Stern on people’s tendency to treat arbitrary political boundaries as safeguards.

In one of their studies, Stern Marketing Professor Justin Kruger, recent Stern Marketing PhD graduate Jeff Galak (now of Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business) and Paul Rozin of the University of Pennsylvania, presented participants with a scenario in which a potentially hazardous industrial site or nuclear plant was being built near their home. They found that participants were less concerned about the potential health hazards if they were “protected” by a state or national border, even though that political border provided no physical barrier.

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