Contagious Policies? Studying National Responses to a Global Pandemic in Europe

Abstract

Not only Covid‐19 has spread all over the world—the policies responding to this pandemic have also diffused rapidly across countries. In this research note, we present findings from an original dataset that features mobility restrictions in all EU/EFTA states as well as the United Kingdom during the first wave of the pandemic. We find that most countries adopted restrictions within a few days only and that restrictions on internal mobility had been introduced prior to restrictions on cross‐border mobility, but that the latter have been more persistent. Furthermore, we observe an evolution from great variation of policy choices at the outset of the pandemic towards convergence. Analyzing the mobility restrictions through a policy diffusion lens, we find tentative evidence for interdependent policy‐making especially in the temporal patterns of adoption. Our research note can serve a basis for future research on policy‐making and policy diffusion in times of crisis.

Policy responses and public reactions to risks

“…These peer effects seem to have influenced policy choice more than internal factors such as the countries' respective COVID‐19 cases. The prevalence of interdependent pandemic policymaking is in line with further empirical evidence on social distancing policies (Givens & Mistur, 2020; Rausis & Hoffmeyer‐Zlotnik, 2021; Sebhatu et al, 2020).…”

“…Estos efectos de pares parecen haber influido en la elección de políticas más que los factores internos, como los respectivos casos de COVID‐19 de los países. La prevalencia de la formulación de políticas pandémicas interdependientes está en línea con más evidencia empírica sobre las políticas de distanciamiento social (Givens & Mistur, 2020; Rausis & Hoffmeyer‐Zlotnik, 2021; Sebhatu et al, 2020).…”

Moving across Borders: The Work Life Experiences of Czech Cross‐border Workers during the COVID‐19 Pandemic

“…However, the literature shows that the number of CBWs has reduced drastically during the COVID‐19 pandemic (Böhm, 2021 ). This could be attributed to various potential reasons, including fear of SARS‐CoV‐2 infection, increased remote working policies, contract terminations and other unfavourable employment conditions (Böhm, 2021 ; Rausis and Hoffmeyer‐Zlotnik, 2021 ). In addition, border crossings between certain member states, such as between the Czech Republic and Germany, was made more difficult during the COVID‐19 pandemic, which may be another contributing factor (Novotny, 2021 ).…”

Communicating Mobility Restrictions During the COVID‐19 Crisis on Twitter: The Legitimacy Challenge

“…The political restrictions on mobility imposed by the Swiss Government in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic are well documented in Rausis and Hoffmeyer-Zlotnik (2021). In short, Ordinance 2 of 13.3.2020 aims at preventing the spread of the virus by reducing the frequency of movement through (1) cross-border travel restrictions (chapter 2, section 2), ( 2) stay-at-home recommendations (e.g., Art.…”