Arbeitspapier

The political scar of epidemics

What will be political legacy of the Coronavirus pandemic? We find that epidemic exposure in an individual's "impressionable years" (ages 18 to 25) has a persistent negative effect on confidence in political institutions and leaders. We find similar negative effects on confidence in public health systems, suggesting that the loss of confidence in political leadership and institutions is associated with healthcare-related policies at the time of the epidemic. In line with this argument, our results are mostly driven by individuals who experienced epidemics under weak governments with less capacity to act against the epidemic, disappointing their citizens. We provide evidence of this mechanism by showing that weak governments took longer to introduce policy interventions in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. These results imply that the Coronavirus may leave behind a long-lasting political scar on the current young generation ("Generation Z").

ISBN
978-952-323-334-8
Sprache
Englisch

Erschienen in
Series: BOFIT Discussion Papers ; No. 14/2020

Klassifikation
Wirtschaft
Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
International Relations, National Security, and International Political Economy: General
Health: Other
Thema
epidemics
trust
democracy
political approval

Ereignis
Geistige Schöpfung
(wer)
Aksoy, Cevat Giray
Eichengreen, Barry
Saka, Orkun
Ereignis
Veröffentlichung
(wer)
Bank of Finland, Institute for Economies in Transition (BOFIT)
(wo)
Helsinki
(wann)
2020

Handle
Letzte Aktualisierung
10.03.2025, 11:45 MEZ

Datenpartner

Dieses Objekt wird bereitgestellt von:
ZBW - Deutsche Zentralbibliothek für Wirtschaftswissenschaften - Leibniz-Informationszentrum Wirtschaft. Bei Fragen zum Objekt wenden Sie sich bitte an den Datenpartner.

Objekttyp

  • Arbeitspapier

Beteiligte

  • Aksoy, Cevat Giray
  • Eichengreen, Barry
  • Saka, Orkun
  • Bank of Finland, Institute for Economies in Transition (BOFIT)

Entstanden

  • 2020

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