Policy Stringency, Political Conditions, and Public Performances of Pandemic Control: An International Comparison

The Impact of Political Trust Among the Egyptian Youth on Adaptation to the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Similarly, on the countrylevel, Egyptians exhibited significantly greater trust in their state authorities than did citizens of other countries in the region (Albrecht & Loewe, 2022). This high political trust despite lower levels of democracy led to increased policy effects on infection and death rates (Chen et al, 2022). The findings of this study generally point to high levels of pandemicrelated trust.…”

“…This also coheres with the finding that, when comparing the moderating effects of political trust and democracy, political trust emerged as a more important enabling factor. Therefore, in addition to making scientifically supported policies, fostering political trust should be an important goal for governments to be better prepared for future pandemics (Chen et al, 2022).…”

COVID-19 and democracy: a scoping review

“…For example, Achim et al [ 62 ] find that in high-income countries higher levels of democracy (as measured by EIU and various V-Dem indices) reduce the spread of COVID-19 while in the low-income countries its influence is exactly the opposite. Chen et al [ 63 ] show that democracy levels (EIU) moderate the effects of policies on infection and death rates (OxCGRT).…”

Institutional trust in the time of corona: Evidence from countermeasures in Germany

“…Overall, a strict and rapid response by the government seems to foster higher trust in the governments' management of the crisis (Rieger and Wang 2022), particularly for those most concerned of the spread of the virus (Lieberoth et al 2021). Examining the moderating effect of political trust on the effectiveness of strict measures, Chen et al (2022) find policy effects to be larger for higher levels of political trust. Based on the level of policy stringency, Bargain and Aminjonov (2020) measure people's willingness to comply and find it to be higher in regions with high trust, further underlining the effect of trust on the efficacy of strict measures.…”

“…Existing studies considering countermeasures have focused on trust as a mediator or moderator variable, primarily for prosocial behaviors, health outcomes and pandemic management (Bargain and Aminjonov 2020;O'Hara et al 2020;Pak et al 2021). Studies of trust as an outcome have focused on country-level comparisons of trust levels at the onset of the pandemic, and on trust in government, often arguing over the presence or absence of "rally effects" induced by the new crisis (Rieger and Wang 2022;Pak et al 2021;Chen et al 2022;Zahariadis et al 2023;Colloca et al 2024;Bengtsson and Brommesson 2022;Kritzinger et al 2021;Schraff 2021;Groeniger et al 2021;Baekgaard et al 2020). Yet, it remains obscure which aspect of the complex crisis (onset) treatment may induce these effects, what shapes trust in other formal institutions than the national government, and especially what drives trust in later stages of the pandemic, even though it has now been shown that trust levels of various forms have varied significantly over the course of the pandemic (Aassve et al 2024).…”