COVID-19 Regulations, Political Institutions, and the Environment

Per G. Fredriksson; Aatishya Mohanty

doi:10.1007/s10640-021-00628-z

COVID-19 Regulations, Political Institutions, and the Environment

Per G. Fredriksson, Aatishya Mohanty

Economics

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

5 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic was associated with short-term air quality improvements in many countries around the world. We study whether the degree of democracy and political institutions played a role. We provide novel empirical evidence from 119 countries. A given stringency of COVID-19 containment and closure policies had a stronger effect on air quality in more democratic countries, and in countries with majoritarian rather than proportional electoral rules. Our estimates suggest that the improvement in air quality was around 57% greater in majoritarian systems than in proportional systems. Confidence in government, trust in politicians, and social capital also affected outcomes.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	323-353
Number of pages	31
Journal	Environmental and Resource Economics
Volume	81
Early online date	25 Nov 2021
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s10640-021-00628-z
Publication status	Published - 1 Feb 2022

Keywords

COVID-19
Infectious disease
Democracy
Electoral system
Institutions
Confidence in government
Trust
Social capital
Rally effect

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1007/s10640-021-00628-zLicence: Unspecified

Cite this

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abstract = "The COVID-19 pandemic was associated with short-term air quality improvements in many countries around the world. We study whether the degree of democracy and political institutions played a role. We provide novel empirical evidence from 119 countries. A given stringency of COVID-19 containment and closure policies had a stronger effect on air quality in more democratic countries, and in countries with majoritarian rather than proportional electoral rules. Our estimates suggest that the improvement in air quality was around 57% greater in majoritarian systems than in proportional systems. Confidence in government, trust in politicians, and social capital also affected outcomes.",

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AU - Mohanty, Aatishya

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AB - The COVID-19 pandemic was associated with short-term air quality improvements in many countries around the world. We study whether the degree of democracy and political institutions played a role. We provide novel empirical evidence from 119 countries. A given stringency of COVID-19 containment and closure policies had a stronger effect on air quality in more democratic countries, and in countries with majoritarian rather than proportional electoral rules. Our estimates suggest that the improvement in air quality was around 57% greater in majoritarian systems than in proportional systems. Confidence in government, trust in politicians, and social capital also affected outcomes.

KW - COVID-19

KW - Infectious disease

KW - Democracy

KW - Electoral system

KW - Institutions

KW - Confidence in government

KW - Trust

KW - Social capital

KW - Rally effect

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DO - 10.1007/s10640-021-00628-z

M3 - Article

VL - 81

SP - 323

EP - 353

JO - Environmental and Resource Economics

JF - Environmental and Resource Economics

SN - 0924-6460

ER -

COVID-19 Regulations, Political Institutions, and the Environment

Abstract

Keywords

UN SDGs

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