Covid-19 Lockdown concept. CORONAVIRUS LOCKDOWN. Covid-19 Pandemic world lockdown for quarantine. World many country and city under lockdown concept.

2023 | Felix Hartmann, Ferdinand Geissler, Macartan Humphreys, Heike Klüver and Johannes Giesecke

Trading liberties: How do citizens citizens trade-off liberties and the common good?

The study examines under what conditions citizens are willing to restrict their personal freedoms in favor of the public good during the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, we analyze how these restrictions affect trust in the government. Using a survey experiment with over 10,000 participants in Germany, we show that the majority of vaccinated citizens support strict measures in extreme situations, especially when they themselves are exempt from the restrictions. In contrast, unvaccinated citizens largely oppose restrictions, regardless of the severity of the pandemic. These measures also influence trust in the government: vaccinated individuals tend to have more trust when strict measures are seen as necessary, while unvaccinated individuals often lose trust in the government when such restrictions are implemented.

Photo: DOERS / Shutterstock / Covid-19 Lockdown Concept

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