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Do pandemics lead to rebellion? Policy responses to COVID-19, inequality, and protests in the USA

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  • Francesco Iacoella
  • Patricia Justino
  • Bruno Martorano

Abstract

This paper analyses how inequality across counties in the United States of America has shaped the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the incidence of protests. The empirical analysis combines weekly data between January and December 2020 on levels of COVID-19-related policy stringency and protest incidence at the county level with measures of county-level inequality at the start of the pandemic.

Suggested Citation

  • Francesco Iacoella & Patricia Justino & Bruno Martorano, 2021. "Do pandemics lead to rebellion? Policy responses to COVID-19, inequality, and protests in the USA," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2021-57, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    • Handle: RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2021-57
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    Cited by:

    1. Thomas Plümper & Eric Neumayer & Katharina Gabriela Pfaff, 2021. "The strategy of protest against Covid‐19 containment policies in Germany," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 102(5), pages 2236-2250, September.
    2. Bank, André & Deepen, Yannick & Grauvogel, Julia & Kurtenbach, Sabine, 2022. "COVID-19 and violent actors in the global south: An inter- and cross-regional comparison," GIGA Working Papers 329, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies.
    3. Patricia Justino, 2022. "Revisiting the links between economic inequality and political violence: The role of social mobilization," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2022-19, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    4. Patricia Justino, 2023. "Youth, violence, and sustaining peace," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2023-101, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    COVID-19; Lockdown; protest; Inequality;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • D70 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - General
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration

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