Enforcement may crowd out voluntary support for COVID-19 policies, especially where trust in government is weak and in a liberal society.

ABSTRACT: Effective states govern by some combination of enforcement and voluntary compliance. To contain the COVID-19 pandemic, a critical decision is the extent to which policy makers rely on voluntary as opposed to enforced compliance, and nations vary along this dimension. While enforcement may secure higher compliance, there is experimental and other evidence that it may also crowd out voluntary motivation. How does enforcement affect citizens' support for anti-COVID-19 policies? A survey conducted with 4,799 respondents toward the end of the first lockdown in Germany suggests that a substantial share of the population will support measures more under voluntary than under enforced implementation. Negative responses to enforcement-termed control aversion-vary across the nature of the policy inte

SUBMITTER: Schmelz K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7817206 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature