Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/235394 
Year of Publication: 
2021
Series/Report no.: 
CESifo Working Paper No. 9024
Publisher: 
Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute (CESifo), Munich
Abstract: 
Information provided by experts is widely believed to play a key role in shaping attitudes towards policy responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper uses a survey experiment to assess whether providing citizens with expert information about the health risk of COVID-19 and the economic costs of lockdown measures affects their attitudes towards these policies. Our findings show that providing respondents with information about COVID-19 fatalities among the elderly raises support for lockdown measures, while information about their economic costs decreases support. However, different population subgroups react very differently. Men and younger respondents react more sensitively to information about lockdown costs, while women and older respondents are more susceptible towards information regarding fatality rates. Strikingly, the impact of the information treatment is entirely driven by West German respondents, while East Germans do not react. Finally, our results are entirely driven by respondents who underestimate the fatality of COVID-19, who represent a clear majority.
Subjects: 
Corona
Covid-19
pandemic
lockdown
survey experiment
Germany
JEL: 
H12
I10
I18
Document Type: 
Working Paper
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