Fear, Trust and Demand for Regulation: Evidence from the COVID-19 Pandemic in Russia

42 Pages Posted: 13 Feb 2023

See all articles by Ekaterina Borisova

Ekaterina Borisova

University of Lille

Timothy Frye

Columbia University - Department of Political Science

Koen J. L. Schoors

Ghent University - Centre for Russian International Socio-Political and Economic Studies (CERISE); Ghent University - Department of General Economics

Vladimir Zabolotskiy

University of Bologna

Date Written: 2022

Abstract

Understanding demand for state regulation is a foundational issue for social science. To account for this demand, existing theories rooted in market failure and government failure have focused on various forms of trust, but have paid little attention to fear. We test how fear and trust shape demand for government regulation by drawing on especially precise measures of Covid-related regulations gathered in a survey of more than 23,000 respondents in 61 Russian regions. We show that fear of contracting the virus is directly related to greater demand for regulation. In addition, the impact of trust is conditional on the level of fear. Higher interpersonal trust is related to lower demand for Covid-19 regulation, while higher institutional trust is associated with greater demand, but, provided fear is sufficiently great, demand for regulation will be high regardless of levels of interpersonal and institutional trust. These results inform debates about theories of regulation, identify critical scope conditions for existing research on trust and demand for regulation, and open a fruitful line of research by examining how fear of social bads shapes support for state intervention.

Note:
Funding Declaration: The survey was approved by Columbia IRB Protocol IRB-AAAT4453, funded and administered by the International Center for the Study of Institutions and Development (ICSID) at National Research University Higher School of Economics (Moscow, Russia) in collaboration with Ghent University (Belgium) and Columbia University (New York, US).

Conflict of Interests: We have no competing interests.

Ethics Approval: The survey was approved by Columbia IRB Protocol IRB-AAAT4453, funded and administered by the International Center for the Study of Institutions and Development (ICSID) at National Research University Higher School of Economics (Moscow, Russia) in collaboration with Ghent University (Belgium) and Columbia University (New York, US).

Keywords: fear, trust, demand for regulation, Covid-19, Russia

JEL Classification: D640, H110, I120, Z130

Suggested Citation

Borisova, Ekaterina and Frye, Timothy and Schoors, Koen J. L. and Zabolotskiy, Vladimir, Fear, Trust and Demand for Regulation: Evidence from the COVID-19 Pandemic in Russia (2022). CESifo Working Paper No. 10156, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4309207 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4309207

Ekaterina Borisova (Contact Author)

University of Lille ( email )

Cité Scientifique
Villeneuve-d'Ascq, 59650
France

Timothy Frye

Columbia University - Department of Political Science ( email )

MC3320
420 West 118th Street
New York, NY 10027
United States
212-854-3646 (Phone)

Koen J. L. Schoors

Ghent University - Centre for Russian International Socio-Political and Economic Studies (CERISE) ( email )

Tweekerkenstraat 2
Ghent, 9000
Belgium
+32 9 264 34 78 (Phone)
+32 9 265 35 99 (Fax)

Ghent University - Department of General Economics ( email )

Tweekerkenstraat 2
Ghent, 9000
Belgium
+32 9 264 34 78 (Phone)
+32 9 264 35 99 (Fax)

Vladimir Zabolotskiy

University of Bologna ( email )

Piazza Scaravilli 2
Bologna, 40100
Italy

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