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Political beliefs affect compliance with government mandates

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  • Painter, Marcus
  • Qiu, Tian

Abstract

We use the state-mandated stay-at-home orders during the coronavirus pandemic as a setting to study whether political beliefs inhibit compliance with government orders. Using geolocation data sourced from smartphones, we find residents in Republican counties are less likely to completely stay at home after a state order has been implemented relative to those in Democratic counties. Debit card transaction data shows that Democrats are more likely to switch to remote spending after state orders are implemented. Heterogeneity in factors such as Covid-19 risk exposure, geography, and county characteristics do not completely rule out our findings, suggesting political beliefs are an important determinant in the effectiveness of government mandates. Political alignment with officials giving orders may partially explain these partisan differences.

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  • Painter, Marcus & Qiu, Tian, 2021. "Political beliefs affect compliance with government mandates," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 185(C), pages 688-701.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:185:y:2021:i:c:p:688-701
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2021.03.019
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    3. Adam Brzezinski & Valentin Kecht & David Dijcke & Austin L. Wright, 2021. "Science skepticism reduced compliance with COVID-19 shelter-in-place policies in the United States," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 5(11), pages 1519-1527, November.
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    5. John M. Bizjak & Swaminathan L. Kalpathy & Vassil T. Mihov & Jue Ren, 2022. "CEO Political Leanings and Store‐Level Economic Activity during the COVID‐19 Crisis: Effects on Shareholder Value and Public Health," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 77(5), pages 2949-2986, October.
    6. Rafaï, Ismaël & Blayac, Thierry & Dubois, Dimitri & Duchêne, Sébastien & Nguyen-Van, Phu & Ventelou, Bruno & Willinger, Marc, 2023. "Stated preferences outperform elicited preferences for predicting reported compliance with COVID-19 prophylactic measures," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    7. Thuy D. Nguyen & Sumedha Gupta & Martin S. Andersen & Ana I. Bento & Kosali I. Simon & Coady Wing, 2021. "Impacts of state COVID‐19 reopening policy on human mobility and mixing behavior," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 88(2), pages 458-486, October.
    8. Andy Hong & Sandip Chakrabarti, 2023. "Compact living or policy inaction? Effects of urban density and lockdown on the COVID-19 outbreak in the US," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 60(9), pages 1588-1609, July.
    9. Coven, Joshua & Gupta, Arpit & Yao, Iris, 2023. "JUE Insight: Urban flight seeded the COVID-19 pandemic across the United States," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    10. Horvath, Akos & Kay, Benjamin & Wix, Carlo, 2023. "The COVID-19 shock and consumer credit: Evidence from credit card data," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    11. de Leon, Fernanda L. Lopez & Malde, Bansi & McQuillin, Ben, 2023. "The effects of emergency government cash transfers on beliefs and behaviours during the COVID pandemic: Evidence from Brazil," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 208(C), pages 140-155.
    12. Joakim A. Weill & Matthieu Stigler & Olivier Deschenes & Michael R. Springborn, 2021. "Researchers' Degrees-of-Flexibility and the Credibility of Difference-in-Differences Estimates: Evidence From the Pandemic Policy Evaluations," NBER Working Papers 29550, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Miriam Marcén & Marina Morales, 2021. "The intensity of COVID‐19 nonpharmaceutical interventions and labor market outcomes in the public sector," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(4), pages 775-798, September.
    14. Deiana, Claudio & Geraci, Andrea & Mazzarella, Gianluca & Sabatini, Fabio, 2022. "Can relief measures nudge compliance in a public health crisis? Evidence from a kinked fiscal policy rule," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 202(C), pages 407-428.
    15. Shuguang Jiang & Qian Wei & Luyao Zhang, 2022. "Individualism Versus Collectivism and the Early-Stage Transmission of COVID-19," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 164(2), pages 791-821, November.
    16. Oana Tanculescu & Alina-Mihaela Apostu & Adrian Doloca & Sorina Mihaela Solomon & Diana Diaconu-Popa & Carmen Iulia Ciongradi & Raluca-Maria Vieriu & Ovidiu Aungurencei & Ana-Maria Fatu & Nicoleta Ioa, 2023. "Perception of Remote Learning by Fixed Prosthodontic Students at a Romanian Faculty of Dentistry," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(4), pages 1-20, February.
    17. Pattanaporn Chatjuthamard & Pavitra Jindahra & Pattarake Sarajoti & Sirimon Treepongkaruna, 2021. "The effect of COVID‐19 on the global stock market," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 61(3), pages 4923-4953, September.
    18. Bird, Matthew D. & Arispe, Samuel & Muñoz, Paula & Freier, Luisa Feline, 2023. "Trust, social protection, and compliance: Moral hazard in Latin America during the COVID-19 pandemic," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 206(C), pages 279-295.
    19. Bessho, S., 2023. "Elections and COVID-19 benefit payments," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    20. Ron S. Kenett & Giancarlo Manzi & Carmit Rapaport & Silvia Salini, 2022. "Integrated Analysis of Behavioural and Health COVID-19 Data Combining Bayesian Networks and Structural Equation Models," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(8), pages 1-26, April.
    21. Amuedo-Dorantes, Catalina & Borra, Cristina & Rivera-Garrido, Noelia & Sevilla, Almudena, 2021. "Early adoption of non-pharmaceutical interventions and COVID-19 mortality," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 42(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    COVID-19; Coronavirus; Political polarization; Geolocation data; Credit card transaction data;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • P16 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Capitalist Economies - - - Capitalist Institutions; Welfare State
    • C55 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling - - - Large Data Sets: Modeling and Analysis
    • H7 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations

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