Do elections accelerate the COVID-19 pandemic? Evidence from a natural experiment
The result's identifiers
Result code in IS VaVaI
<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F67985998%3A_____%2F22%3A00556756" target="_blank" >RIV/67985998:_____/22:00556756 - isvavai.cz</a>
Alternative codes found
RIV/00216208:11640/22:00568750
Result on the web
<a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s00148-021-00870-1" target="_blank" >https://doi.org/10.1007/s00148-021-00870-1</a>
DOI - Digital Object Identifier
<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00148-021-00870-1" target="_blank" >10.1007/s00148-021-00870-1</a>
Alternative languages
Result language
angličtina
Original language name
Do elections accelerate the COVID-19 pandemic? Evidence from a natural experiment
Original language description
Elections define representative democracies but also produce spikes in physical mobility if voters need to travel to polling places. In this paper, we examine whether large-scale, in-person elections propagate the spread of COVID-19. We exploit a natural experiment from the Czech Republic, which biannually renews mandates in one-third of Senate constituencies that rotate according to the 1995 election law. We show that in the second and third weeks after the 2020 elections (held on October 9-10), new COVID-19 infections grew significantly faster in voting compared to non-voting constituencies. A temporarily related peak in hospital admissions and essentially no changes in test positivity rates suggest that the acceleration was not merely due to increased testing. The acceleration did not occur in the population above 65, consistently with strategic risk-avoidance by older voters. Our results have implications for postal voting reforms or postponing of large-scale, in-person (electoral) events during viral outbreaks.
Czech name
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Czech description
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Classification
Type
J<sub>imp</sub> - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database
CEP classification
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OECD FORD branch
50202 - Applied Economics, Econometrics
Result continuities
Project
<a href="/en/project/EF16_013%2F0001740" target="_blank" >EF16_013/0001740: SHARE-CZ+ National Research on Aging</a><br>
Continuities
I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace
Others
Publication year
2022
Confidentiality
S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů
Data specific for result type
Name of the periodical
Journal of Population Economics
ISSN
0933-1433
e-ISSN
1432-1475
Volume of the periodical
35
Issue of the periodical within the volume
1
Country of publishing house
DE - GERMANY
Number of pages
44
Pages from-to
197-240
UT code for WoS article
000696757000002
EID of the result in the Scopus database
2-s2.0-85115048707