IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v317y2023ics0277953622009352.html

Social implications of Covid-19: Its impact on general trust, political trust, and trust in physicians in China

Author

Listed:
  • Liu, Ning
  • Bao, Guoxian
  • Wu, Shaolong

Abstract

Motivated by current debates over the relationship between epidemic and trust, this paper estimates the short-term effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on general trust, political trust, and trust in physicians in China. Using an individual-level national longitude dataset, results from the Difference-in-Difference estimation show that greater exposure to Covid-19 risks significantly decreased general and political trust among the Chinese population, except for the younger generation (age 8–22). Higher exposure to Covid-19 in malleable ages of trust formation (age 8–22) may worsen individuals’ general trust but improve their trust in local officials and physicians. Results from heterogeneity tests reveal that Covid-19 exacerbated general trust among the vulnerable groups, whereas their political trust was stable.

Suggested Citation

  • Liu, Ning & Bao, Guoxian & Wu, Shaolong, 2023. "Social implications of Covid-19: Its impact on general trust, political trust, and trust in physicians in China," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 317(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:317:y:2023:i:c:s0277953622009352
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.115629
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953622009352
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.115629?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Alfani, Guido & Murphy, Tommy E., 2017. "Plague and Lethal Epidemics in the Pre-Industrial World," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 77(1), pages 314-343, March.
    2. Bargain, Olivier & Aminjonov, Ulugbek, 2020. "Trust and compliance to public health policies in times of COVID-19," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    3. Mueller, John E., 1970. "Presidential Popularity from Truman to Johnson1," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 64(1), pages 18-34, March.
    4. Barry Eichengreen & Orkun Saka & Cevat Giray Aksoy, 2024. "The Political Scar of Epidemics," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 134(660), pages 1683-1700.
    5. Nathan Nunn & Nancy Qian, 2011. "The Potato's Contribution to Population and Urbanization: Evidence From A Historical Experiment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 126(2), pages 593-650.
    6. Liu, Kai & Yang, Jidong & Zou, Hongwei, 2020. "Cultural heterogeneity, social policy, and economic growth in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    7. Sutter, Matthias & Kocher, Martin G., 2007. "Trust and trustworthiness across different age groups," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 59(2), pages 364-382, May.
    8. Bai, Liang & Wu, Lingwei, 2020. "Political movement and trust formation: Evidence from the Cultural Revolution (1966–76)," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    9. Marc J. Hetherington & Jason A. Husser, 2012. "How Trust Matters: The Changing Political Relevance of Political Trust," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 56(2), pages 312-325, April.
    10. Jérôme Adda, 2016. "Economic Activity and the Spread of Viral Diseases: Evidence from High Frequency Data," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 131(2), pages 891-941.
    11. Alwyn Young, 2005. "The Gift of the Dying: The Tragedy of AIDS and the Welfare of Future African Generations," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 120(2), pages 423-466.
    12. Baicker, Katherine & Finkelstein, Amy, 2019. "The Impact of Medicaid Expansion on Voter Participation: Evidence from the Oregon Health Insurance Experiment," Quarterly Journal of Political Science, now publishers, vol. 14(4), pages 383-400, October.
    13. Fang, Hanming & Wang, Long & Yang, Yang, 2020. "Human mobility restrictions and the spread of the Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in China," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    14. Latkin, Carl A. & Dayton, Lauren & Yi, Grace & Konstantopoulos, Arianna & Boodram, Basmattee, 2021. "Trust in a COVID-19 vaccine in the U.S.: A social-ecological perspective," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 270(C).
    15. Martin Baekgaard & Julian Christensen & Jonas Krogh Madsen & Kim Sass Mikkelsen, 2020. "Rallying around the flag in times of COVID-19: Societal lockdown and trust in democratic institutions," Journal of Behavioral Public Administration, Center for Experimental and Behavioral Public Administration, vol. 3(2).
    16. Nathan Nunn & Leonard Wantchekon, 2011. "The Slave Trade and the Origins of Mistrust in Africa," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(7), pages 3221-3252, December.
    17. Esther Duflo, 2001. "Schooling and Labor Market Consequences of School Construction in Indonesia: Evidence from an Unusual Policy Experiment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(4), pages 795-813, September.
    18. Zhang, Chunni & Xu, Qi & Zhou, Xiang & Zhang, Xiaobo & Xie, Yu, 2014. "Are poverty rates underestimated in China? New evidence from four recent surveys," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 410-425.
    19. Yi Chen & Ziying Fan & Xiaomin Gu & Li-An Zhou, 2020. "Arrival of Young Talent: The Send-Down Movement and Rural Education in China," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 110(11), pages 3393-3430, November.
    20. Arnstein Aassve & Guido Alfani & Francesco Gandolfi & Marco Le Moglie, 2021. "Epidemics and trust: The case of the Spanish Flu," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(4), pages 840-857, April.
    21. Ning Liu & Zhuo Chen & Guoxian Bao, 2021. "Unpacking the red packets: institution and informal payments in healthcare in China," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 22(8), pages 1183-1194, November.
    22. Oude Groeniger, Joost & Noordzij, Kjell & van der Waal, Jeroen & de Koster, Willem, 2021. "Dutch COVID-19 lockdown measures increased trust in government and trust in science: A difference-in-differences analysis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 275(C).
    23. Bartscher, Alina Kristin & Seitz, Sebastian & Siegloch, Sebastian & Slotwinski, Michaela & Wehrhöfer, Nils, 2021. "Social capital and the spread of covid-19: Insights from european countries," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    24. Daicia Price & Tore Bonsaksen & Mary Ruffolo & Janni Leung & Vivian Chiu & Hilde Thygesen & Mariyana Schoultz & Amy Ostertun Geirdal, 2021. "Perceived Trust in Public Authorities Nine Months after the COVID-19 Outbreak: A Cross-National Study," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-14, September.
    25. Dmitry Arkhangelsky & Susan Athey & David A. Hirshberg & Guido W. Imbens & Stefan Wager, 2021. "Synthetic Difference-in-Differences," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 111(12), pages 4088-4118, December.
    26. Jayson S. Jia & Xin Lu & Yun Yuan & Ge Xu & Jianmin Jia & Nicholas A. Christakis, 2020. "Population flow drives spatio-temporal distribution of COVID-19 in China," Nature, Nature, vol. 582(7812), pages 389-394, June.
    27. Dominic H. P. Balog-Way & Katherine A. McComas, 2020. "COVID-19: Reflections on trust, tradeoffs, and preparedness," Journal of Risk Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(7-8), pages 838-848, August.
    28. Gilson, Lucy, 2003. "Trust and the development of health care as a social institution," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 56(7), pages 1453-1468, April.
    29. Lisa Maria Dellmuth & Jonas Tallberg, 2020. "Why national and international legitimacy beliefs are linked: Social trust as an antecedent factor," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 15(2), pages 311-337, April.
    30. Matthias Flückiger & Markus Ludwig & Ali Sina Önder, 2019. "Ebola and State Legitimacy," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 129(621), pages 2064-2089.
    31. Li, Jianbiao & Zhang, Yanan & Niu, Xiaofei, 2021. "The COVID-19 pandemic reduces trust behavior," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 199(C).
    32. Dou, Jiangli & Ye, Bing & Ye, Jianliang & Pan, Zhidong, 2019. "Trustworthiness of local government, institutions, and self-employment in transitional China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    33. Aksoy, Cevat Giray & Eichengreen, Barry & Saka, Orkun, 2020. "The Political Scar of Epidemics," IZA Discussion Papers 13351, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    34. Liu, Ning & Chen, Zhuo & Bao, Guoxian, 2021. "Role of media coverage in mitigating COVID-19 transmission: Evidence from China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Broihanne, Marie-Hélène & Plotkina, Daria & Kleimeier, Stefanie & Göritz, Anja S. & Hoffmann, Arvid O.I., 2025. "Corrigendum to “How COVID-19 illness perceptions and individual shocks are associated with trust during the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia, France, Germany, and South Africa” [Health policy (2024) 105178]," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    2. Xiaobin Zhang & Mengran Wang & Huiling Huang, 2025. "The Dark Side of Moving Upward: How Residential Mobility Affects Subjective Well-Being in China," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 179(2), pages 1003-1024, September.
    3. Zhao, Yucong & Wang, Ting & Ye, Bing, 2025. "Pandemic lockdowns and trust in local government in China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(1), pages 96-117.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Zhao, Yucong & Wang, Ting & Ye, Bing, 2025. "Pandemic lockdowns and trust in local government in China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(1), pages 96-117.
    2. Broihanne, Marie-Hélène & Plotkina, Daria & Kleimeier, Stefanie & Göritz, Anja S. & Hoffmann, Arvid O.I., 2025. "Corrigendum to “How COVID-19 illness perceptions and individual shocks are associated with trust during the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia, France, Germany, and South Africa” [Health policy (2024) 105178]," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    3. Fang, Guanfu & Tang, Tianyu & Zhao, Fang & Zhu, Ying, 2023. "The social scar of the pandemic: Impacts of COVID-19 exposure on interpersonal trust," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    4. Shen, Xiuheng & Sun, Yucheng & Zhou, Xianbo, 2025. "The political legacy of disease control: Evidence from a polio vaccination campaign in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    5. Aksoy Cevat Giray & Antonio Cabrales & Mathias Dolls & Windsteiger Lisa, 2020. "COVID-19, Trust and Solidarity in the EU," EconPol Policy Reports 27, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
    6. Abel Brodeur & David Gray & Anik Islam & Suraiya Bhuiyan, 2021. "A literature review of the economics of COVID‐19," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(4), pages 1007-1044, September.
    7. Cannonier, Colin & Burke, Monica Galloway, 2025. "Trust during troubled times: Evidence from Sierra Leone's Ebola epidemic," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    8. Gianmarco Daniele & Andrea F.M. Martinangeli & Francesco Passarelli & Willem Sas & Lisa Windsteiger, 2020. "Wind of Change? Experimental Survey Evidence on the Covid-19 Shock and Socio-Political Attitudes in Europe," CESifo Working Paper Series 8517, CESifo.
    9. Eichengreen, Barry & Aksoy, Cevat Giray & Saka, Orkun, 2021. "Revenge of the experts: Will COVID-19 renew or diminish public trust in science?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    10. Popova, Olga & See, Sarah Grace & Nikolova, Milena & Otrachshenko, Vladimir, 2023. "The societal costs of inflation and unemployment," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1341, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    11. Siria Angino & Federico M Ferrara & Stefania Secola, 2022. "The cultural origins of institutional trust: The case of the European Central Bank," European Union Politics, , vol. 23(2), pages 212-235, June.
    12. Yuen, Vera W.H., 2023. "The efficacy of health experts’ communication in inducing support for COVID-19 measures and effect on trustworthiness: A survey in Hong Kong," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 317(C).
    13. Cai, Yang & Chen, Shuo & Li, Dongxu, 2025. "The Long-term effect of social disasters on stock market participation," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    14. Anna Bottasso & Gianluca Cerruti & Maurizio Conti, 2022. "Institutions matter: The impact of the covid‐19 pandemic on the political trust of young Europeans," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(4), pages 1122-1148, September.
    15. , Aisdl, 2020. "Let’s Do Better: Public Representations of COVID-19 Science," OSF Preprints 3cpvs, Center for Open Science.
    16. David E. Bloom & Michael Kuhn & Klaus Prettner, 2022. "Modern Infectious Diseases: Macroeconomic Impacts and Policy Responses," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 60(1), pages 85-131, March.
    17. Beniamino Callegari & Christophe Feder, 2022. "The long-term economic effects of pandemics: toward an evolutionary approach [Epidemics and trust: the case of the Spanish flu]," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 31(3), pages 715-735.
    18. Christoph Strupat, 2022. "Social Protection and Social Cohesion in Times of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence from Kenya," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 34(3), pages 1320-1357, June.
    19. Laliotis, Ioannis & Minos, Dimitrios, 2022. "Religion, social interactions, and COVID-19 incidence in Western Germany," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    20. Monica Martinez-Bravo & Carlos Sanz, 2022. "The Management of the Pandemic and its Effects on Trust and Accountability," Working Papers wp2022_2207, CEMFI.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:317:y:2023:i:c:s0277953622009352. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.