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Pandemic perception and regulation effectiveness: Evidence from the COVID-19

Author

Listed:
  • Luisa Loiacono

    (Università di Parma e Università di Ferrara)

  • Riccardo Puglisi

    (Università di Pavia)

  • Leonzio Rizzo

    (Università di Ferrara e Institut d'Economia Barcelona)

  • Riccardo Secomandi

    (Università di Ferrara)

Abstract

The spread of COVID-19 led countries around the world to adopt lockdown measures of varying stringency to restrict movement of people. However, the effectiveness of these measures on mobility has been markedly different. Employing a difference-in-differences design and a set of robustness checks, we analyse the effectiveness of movement restrictions across different countries. We disentangle the role of regulation (stringency measures) from the role of people’s perception about the spread of COVID-19. We proxy the COVID-19 perception by using Google Trends data on the term “Covid”. We find that lockdown measures have a higher impact on mobility the more people perceive the severity of COVID-19 pandemic. This finding is driven by countries with low level of trust in institutions.

Suggested Citation

  • Luisa Loiacono & Riccardo Puglisi & Leonzio Rizzo & Riccardo Secomandi, 2021. "Pandemic perception and regulation effectiveness: Evidence from the COVID-19," Working papers 104, Società Italiana di Economia Pubblica.
    • Handle: RePEc:ipu:wpaper:104
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    mobility; lockdown measures; COVID-19; stringency index; perception; public health; public policy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D7 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making
    • E7 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macro-Based Behavioral Economics
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health

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