IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/pal/compes/v66y2024i2d10.1057_s41294-023-00223-9.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Government Support Measures, Trust in Institutions and Effects on Satisfaction with Democracy During the COVID-19 Outbreak

Author

Listed:
  • Erica Poma

    (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia)

  • Barbara Pistoresi

    (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia and ReCENT)

Abstract

This paper uses the European Living, Working and COVID-19 survey (Eurofound 2021) to examine the mechanism linking citizens' worsening financial hardship to lower satisfaction with democracy through the mediating role of government support and trust in institutions. We find that as households and firms have struggled to meet loan repayments to creditors, governments have intervened with social support measures that citizens have not judged to be adequate in terms of fairness, integrity, responsiveness and reliability. This has led to a decline in citizens' trust in institutions, exacerbating the impact of increased economic hardship on their satisfaction with democracy.

Suggested Citation

  • Erica Poma & Barbara Pistoresi, 2024. "Government Support Measures, Trust in Institutions and Effects on Satisfaction with Democracy During the COVID-19 Outbreak," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 66(2), pages 355-387, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:compes:v:66:y:2024:i:2:d:10.1057_s41294-023-00223-9
    DOI: 10.1057/s41294-023-00223-9
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41294-023-00223-9
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1057/s41294-023-00223-9?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Durante, Ruben & Guiso, Luigi & Gulino, Giorgio, 2021. "Asocial capital: Civic culture and social distancing during COVID-19," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 194(C).
    2. Elina Simone & Lorenzo Cicatiello & Giuseppe Lucio Gaeta & Mauro Pinto, 2022. "Expectations About Future Economic Prospects and Satisfaction with Democracy: Evidence from European Countries during the COVID-19 Crisis," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 159(3), pages 1017-1033, February.
    3. Sara B. Hobolt, 2012. "Citizen Satisfaction with Democracy in the European Union," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(S1), pages 88-105, March.
    4. Bart Nooteboom, 2007. "Social capital, institutions and trust," Review of Social Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 65(1), pages 29-53.
    5. Evangelos Bekiaris & Irene Daskalopoulou, 2022. "Satisfaction with Democracy and Social Capital: Multi-Level Model Evidence for the Pre- and Post-Crisis Era," Review of Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(3), pages 468-503, July.
    6. Miller, Arthur H. & Listhaug, Ola, 1990. "Political Parties and Confidence in Government: A Comparison of Norway, Sweden and the United States," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 20(3), pages 357-386, July.
    7. Hetherington, Marc J., 1998. "The Political Relevance of Political Trust," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 92(4), pages 791-808, December.
    8. Massimo Bordignon & Nicolò Gatti & Massimiliano Gaetano Onorato, 2023. "Getting Closer or Falling Apart? Euro Area Countries After the Sovereign Debt Crisis," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 65(2), pages 191-220, June.
    9. John E. Anderson, 2017. "Trust in Government and Willingness to Pay Taxes in Transition Countries," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 59(1), pages 1-22, March.
    10. Elinor Ostrom, 2009. "Building Trust to Solve Commons Dilemmas: Taking Small Steps to Test an Evolving Theory of Collective Action," Springer Series in Game Theory, in: Simon A. Levin (ed.), Games, Groups, and the Global Good, pages 207-228, Springer.
    11. Michele Roccato & Nicoletta Cavazza & Pasquale Colloca & Silvia Russo, 2020. "A Democratic Emergency After a Health Emergency? Exposure to COVID‐19, Perceived Economic Threat and Support for Anti‐Democratic Political Systems," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 101(6), pages 2193-2202, October.
    12. Easton, David, 1975. "A Re-assessment of the Concept of Political Support," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 5(4), pages 435-457, October.
    13. Soss, Joe, 1999. "Lessons of Welfare: Policy Design, Political Learning, and Political Action," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 93(2), pages 363-380, June.
    14. Wagner, Alexander F. & Schneider, Friedrich & Halla, Martin, 2009. "The quality of institutions and satisfaction with democracy in Western Europe -- A panel analysis," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 30-41, March.
    15. Denis Ivanov, 2023. "Economic Insecurity, Institutional Trust and Populist Voting Across Europe," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 65(3), pages 461-482, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Anna Kern, 2017. "The Effect of Direct Democratic Participation on Citizens’ Political Attitudes in Switzerland: The Difference between Availability and Use," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 5(2), pages 16-26.
    2. Newton, Kenneth, 2005. "Support for democracy: Social capital, civil society and political performance," Discussion Papers, Research Group Civil Society, Citizenship and Political Mobilization in Europe SP IV 2005-402, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    3. Barbara Dluhosch & Daniel Horgos & Klaus W. Zimmermann, 2016. "EU enlargement and satisfaction with democracy: a peculiar case of immiserizing growth," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 27(3), pages 273-298, September.
    4. Hanyu Xiao & Ting Gong & Chilik Yu & Wen-Jong Juang & Baishun Yuan, 2020. "Citizens’ Confidence in Government Control of Corruption: An Empirical Analysis," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 152(3), pages 877-897, December.
    5. Xiwen Fu, 2018. "The Contextual Effects of Political Trust on Happiness: Evidence from China," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 139(2), pages 491-516, September.
    6. Marlene Mauk, 2022. "Electoral integrity matters: how electoral process conditions the relationship between political losing and political trust," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 56(3), pages 1709-1728, June.
    7. Anna Kern, 2017. "The Effect of Direct Democratic Participation on Citizens’ Political Attitudes in Switzerland: The Difference between Availability and Use," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 5(2), pages 16-26.
    8. Lourdes ROJAS RUBIO, 2022. "Inequality, Corruption and Support for Democracy," THEMA Working Papers 2022-20, THEMA (THéorie Economique, Modélisation et Applications), Université de Cergy-Pontoise.
    9. Gustavo Gouvêa Maciel & Luís de Sousa, 2018. "Legal Corruption and Dissatisfaction with Democracy in the European Union," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 140(2), pages 653-674, November.
    10. Nunkoo, Robin & Smith, Stephen L.J., 2013. "Political economy of tourism: Trust in government actors, political support, and their determinants," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 120-132.
    11. Alexander F. Wagner & Friedrich Schneider, 2006. "Satisfaction with Democracy and the Environment in Western Europe – a Panel Analysis," CESifo Working Paper Series 1660, CESifo.
    12. Caroline Mcevoy, 2016. "The Role of Political Efficacy on Public Opinion in the European Union," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(5), pages 1159-1174, September.
    13. Ankush Goyal & Rajender Kumar, 2022. "Does Social Welfare Programmes Influence Households Trust in Local Administration and Their Political Participation? Evidence from the MGNREG Scheme in India," Indian Journal of Human Development, , vol. 16(3), pages 602-617, December.
    14. Rong Hu & Ivan Y. Sun & Yuning Wu, 2015. "Chinese Trust in the Police: The Impact of Political Efficacy and Participation," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 96(4), pages 1012-1026, December.
    15. Peggy Schyns & Christel Koop, 2010. "Political Distrust and Social Capital in Europe and the USA," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 96(1), pages 145-167, March.
    16. Claes de Vreese & Rachid Azrout & Judith Moeller, 2016. "Cross Road Elections: Change in EU Performance Evaluations during the European Parliament Elections 2014," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 4(1), pages 69-82.
    17. Soo Tan & Siok Tambyah, 2011. "Generalized Trust and Trust in Institutions in Confucian Asia," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 103(3), pages 357-377, September.
    18. Eri Bertsou, 2019. "Political Distrust and its Discontents: Exploring the Meaning, Expression and Significance of Political Distrust," Societies, MDPI, vol. 9(4), pages 1-18, October.
    19. Christiansen, Petter, 2018. "Public support of transport policy instruments, perceived transport quality and satisfaction with democracy. What is the relationship?," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 305-318.
    20. Raül Tormos, 2019. "Measuring Personal Economic Hardship and Its Impact on Political Trust During the Great Recession," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 144(3), pages 1209-1232, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pal:compes:v:66:y:2024:i:2:d:10.1057_s41294-023-00223-9. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.palgrave-journals.com/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.