  Compliance with measures like social distancing, hand-washing and wearing
masks have emerged as the dominant strategy to combat health risk from the
COVID-19 pandemic. These behaviors are often argued to be pro-social, where one
must incur private cost to benefit or protect others. Using self-reported data
across India (n=934) through online survey, we assess if changes in perceived
community compliance can predict changes in individual compliance behavior,
controlling for the potential confounders. We observe statistically significant
and positive relationship between the two, even after accounting for omitted
variable bias, plausibly allowing us to view the results from a plausible
causal lens. Further, we find subsequent lockdowns such as the ones imposed in
India, have a detrimental effect on individual compliance though the gains from
higher perceived community compliance seems to offset this loss. We also find
that sensitization through community can be particularly effective for people
with pre-existing co-morbidities. Our findings underscore the need for
multi-level behavioral interventions involving local actors and community
institutions to sustain private compliance during the pandemic.
