Restrictions to civil liberties in a pandemic and satisfaction with democracy

Daniel Graeber, Lorenz Meister and Panu Poutvaara

European Journal of Political Economy, 2024, vol. 85, issue C

Abstract: In times of crises, democracies face the challenge of balancing effective interventions with civil liberties. This study examines German states’ responses during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on the trade-off between civil liberties and public health. Using state-level variation in mobility restrictions, we employ a difference-in-differences design to show that stay-at-home orders notably increased satisfaction with democracy and shifted political support towards centrist parties. Stay-at-home orders increased satisfaction with democracy most among individuals who had been exposed to the authoritarian regime of the German Democratic Republic, possibly because they have gotten used to more restrictive state interventions.

Keywords: Perceptions of public policies; Satisfaction with democracy; COVID-19 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D72 H12 I12 I18 P26 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:poleco:v:85:y:2024:i:c:s0176268024000958

DOI: 10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2024.102593

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