The political scar of epidemics

Cevat Aksoy, Barry Eichengreen and Orkun Saka

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: What will be the 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”).

Keywords: epidemics; trust; democracy; political approval (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D72 F50 I19 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 73 pages
Date: 2020-06-15
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

Downloads: (external link)
http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/118901/ Open access version. (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: The Political Scar of Epidemics (2024)
Working Paper: The Political Scar of Epidemics (2021)
Working Paper: The Political Scar of Epidemics (2020)
Working Paper: The Political Scar of Epidemics (2020)
Working Paper: The Political Scar of Epidemics (2020)
Working Paper: The Political Scar of Epidemics (2020)
Working Paper: The political scar of epidemics (2020)
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