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
Language
Englisch

Bibliographic citation
Series: BOFIT Discussion Papers ; No. 14/2020

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

Event
Geistige Schöpfung
(who)
Aksoy, Cevat Giray
Eichengreen, Barry
Saka, Orkun
Event
Veröffentlichung
(who)
Bank of Finland, Institute for Economies in Transition (BOFIT)
(where)
Helsinki
(when)
2020

Handle
Last update
10.03.2025, 11:45 AM CET

Data provider

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Object type

  • Arbeitspapier

Associated

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

Time of origin

  • 2020

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