Pandemics and Inequality: Perceptions and Preferences for Redistribution
IMF Working Papers, February 26, 2021
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Bibliographic details
- Authors: Vybhavi Balasundharam, Era Dabla-Norris
- Published: February 26, 2021
- Series: IMF Working Papers
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9781513570723.001
Study design and scope
- Individual-level survey conducted by the Edelman Trust Barometer in mid-April for 11 advanced and emerging market economies.
- Focus: perceptions of government performance in managing the health and economic crisis, beliefs about the future, and attitudes about redistribution.
- Publication details:
- Pages: 43
- Volume: 2021
- Issue: 053
- Series: Working Paper No. 2021/053
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9781513570723.001
- Stock No: WPIEA2021053
- ISBN: 9781513570723
- ISSN: 1018-5941
- Publication date: February 26, 2021
Key empirical findings
- Demographic and job-related correlates of government perceptions:
- Women systematically have less favorable perceptions of government responses.
- Non-college educated individuals systematically have less favorable perceptions of government responses.
- The unemployed systematically have less favorable perceptions of government responses.
- Those in non-teleworkable jobs systematically have less favorable perceptions of government responses.
- Personal experience effects:
- Personally experiencing illness caused by the pandemic can shape beliefs about the future.
- Personally experiencing job loss caused by the pandemic can shape beliefs about the future.
- These experiences heighten uncertainties about prolonged job losses and the imminent threat from automation.
- Cross-country and temporal patterns:
- Economic anxieties are amplified in countries that experienced an early surge in infections followed by successful containment, suggesting negative beliefs can persist even after containment.
- Redistribution attitudes:
- Support for pro-equality redistributive policies varies depending on personal experiences and views about the poor.
- There is strong willingness to provide social safety nets for vulnerable individuals and firms among those who have a more favorable perception of government responses.
- Effective government actions can promote support for redistributive policies.
Analytical conclusions
- Government performance perceptions are systematically linked to socioeconomic status, employment circumstances, and gender.
- Direct negative experiences with the pandemic (illness or job loss) materially influence forward-looking beliefs, increasing perceived risks of prolonged unemployment and automation-related displacement.
- Country-level epidemic trajectories (early surge then containment) do not eliminate lasting economic anxieties; containment success does not automatically erase negative beliefs.
- Public support for redistribution is heterogeneous but can be strengthened by credible and effective government responses that increase willingness to fund social safety nets.
Policy implications and recommendations
- Strengthen targeted communications and policy measures toward groups with systematically less favorable perceptions (women, non-college educated, unemployed, non-teleworkable workers) to rebuild trust in government responses.
- Prioritize policies that mitigate prolonged job loss risks and address automation concerns for those directly affected by pandemic illness or job loss.
- Recognize that successful epidemiological containment should be complemented by economic measures to reduce persistent economic anxieties in populations that experienced early infection surges.
- Use effective and visible government actions to build public support for social safety nets for vulnerable individuals and firms, leveraging improved perceptions of government performance to expand redistributive policies.
Source: Vybhavi Balasundharam and Era Dabla‑Norris, "Pandemics and Inequality: Perceptions and Preferences for Redistribution", IMF Working Papers 2021, 053 (2021).
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