The short-term effect of COVID-19 on schoolchildren’s generosity

We conduct two waves (W1 and W2) of an unincentivized online survey to measure the change in altruism of primary school students (N=983) toward classmates and schoolmates during the school closures due to COVID-19. The W1 responses arrived, on average, after 39 days of online education, while W2 responses arrived, on average, 31 days after W1. There is a small, but insignificant decline in generosity both towards classmates and schoolmates between waves. Students with better cognitive abilities are less likely to become selfish toward schoolmates.