Download This PaperGive me Liberty and/or Give me Death: Revealed Partisan Preferences during a Pandemic
18 Pages Posted: 25 Oct 2022
Date Written: October 24, 2022
Abstract
I report reduced form empirical estimates of revealed partisan preferences over several important medical, economic, and environmental factors relied on by policymakers to inform decisions to relax or extend lockdown restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Republican governors in America were approximately 5.7% more likely to relax compared to 3.1% for Democrats (1.8x) after a 1% rise in the share of their populations that had received at least one dose of vaccine. Both parties chose to extend when unemployment rose, which goes against the popular narrative that politicians of a certain party prioritised economic growth over public health.
Keywords: COVID, lockdown, partisanship
JEL Classification: I18, H12, E61
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation