Political alignment, centralisation, and the sense of government unpreparedness during the COVID-19 pandemic

Massimiliano Ferraresi and Gianluca Gucciardi

European Journal of Political Economy, 2022, vol. 73, issue C

Abstract: We rely on a periodic public opinion poll indicator of the performance of mayors collected for 103 large cities in Italy and in three waves (2015, 2017, and 2020) to examine whether and to what extent the exogenous shift in policy-making decisions induced by the COVID-19 pandemic has affected citizens' perceptions regarding attributions of responsibility. We leverage the variation in political alignment between central and local governments and implement a difference-in-differences research design, finding that when decisions are fully centralised (during the lockdown), voter approval for the mayor of an aligned city decreases by around 7%. Further analyses suggest that our results are more marked (i) during pre-electoral years and (ii) in cities with a lower level of social capital. Lastly, we document that the decrease in the approval ratings of aligned mayors is entirely guided by cities not severely hit by the pandemic, thereby reflecting a sense of ‘discontent’ in these areas for the policy decisions adopted by the central government to tackle the pandemic.

Keywords: Policy outcomes; Voter perception; Policy-making process; Centralisation; COVID-19 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D72 H12 H77 Z18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:poleco:v:73:y:2022:i:c:s017626802100118x

DOI: 10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2021.102144

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