The virus of fear: the political impact of ebola in the United States

We study how public anxiety over the threat of a disease outbreak can affect voter behavior by looking at the Ebola scare that hit the United States in 2014. Exploiting timing and locations of the four cases diagnosed in the country, we show that heightened concern about Ebola led to a lower Democra...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Campante, Filipe, Depetris-Chauvin, Emilio, Durante, Ruben, 1978-
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2024
País:España
Institución:Universitat Pompeu Fabra
Repositorio:Repositorio Digital de la UPF
OAI Identifier:oai:dnet:rdupf_______::ea1cc6b6f001803be9185ce61d38030f
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10230/73424
http://dx.doi.org/10.1257/app.20220030
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Economia de la salut
Opinió pública -- Estats Units d&apos
Amèrica
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spelling The virus of fear: the political impact of ebola in the United StatesCampante, FilipeDepetris-Chauvin, EmilioDurante, Ruben, 1978-Economia de la salutOpinió pública -- Estats Units d&aposAmèricaWe study how public anxiety over the threat of a disease outbreak can affect voter behavior by looking at the Ebola scare that hit the United States in 2014. Exploiting timing and locations of the four cases diagnosed in the country, we show that heightened concern about Ebola led to a lower Democratic vote share and lower turnout, despite no evidence of a general anti-incumbent effect (including President Obama). Voters displayed increasingly conservative attitudes on immigration, but not on other ideologically charged issues. Our findings indicate that emotional reactions can have a strong electoral impact, mediated by issues plausibly associated with the specific triggering factor.Ruben Durante acknowledges funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program [Grant 759885]. Emilio Depetris-Chauvin acknowledges financial support from CONICYT, FONDECYT Regular 1201036.American Economic Association2026202620242026info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionapplication/pdfapplication/pdfhttps://hdl.handle.net/10230/73424http://dx.doi.org/10.1257/app.20220030reponame:Repositorio Digital de la UPFinstname:Universitat Pompeu FabraInglésAmerican Economic Journal: Applied Economics. 2024;16(1):480-509info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/H2020/759885© American Economic Association; reproduced with permission of AEA. Can be found at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1257/app.20220030info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:dnet:rdupf_______::ea1cc6b6f001803be9185ce61d38030f2026-06-12T07:21:37Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv The virus of fear: the political impact of ebola in the United States
title The virus of fear: the political impact of ebola in the United States
spellingShingle The virus of fear: the political impact of ebola in the United States
Campante, Filipe
Economia de la salut
Opinió pública -- Estats Units d&apos
Amèrica
title_short The virus of fear: the political impact of ebola in the United States
title_full The virus of fear: the political impact of ebola in the United States
title_fullStr The virus of fear: the political impact of ebola in the United States
title_full_unstemmed The virus of fear: the political impact of ebola in the United States
title_sort The virus of fear: the political impact of ebola in the United States
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Campante, Filipe
Depetris-Chauvin, Emilio
Durante, Ruben, 1978-
author Campante, Filipe
author_facet Campante, Filipe
Depetris-Chauvin, Emilio
Durante, Ruben, 1978-
author_role author
author2 Depetris-Chauvin, Emilio
Durante, Ruben, 1978-
author2_role author
author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Economia de la salut
Opinió pública -- Estats Units d&apos
Amèrica
topic Economia de la salut
Opinió pública -- Estats Units d&apos
Amèrica
description We study how public anxiety over the threat of a disease outbreak can affect voter behavior by looking at the Ebola scare that hit the United States in 2014. Exploiting timing and locations of the four cases diagnosed in the country, we show that heightened concern about Ebola led to a lower Democratic vote share and lower turnout, despite no evidence of a general anti-incumbent effect (including President Obama). Voters displayed increasingly conservative attitudes on immigration, but not on other ideologically charged issues. Our findings indicate that emotional reactions can have a strong electoral impact, mediated by issues plausibly associated with the specific triggering factor.
publishDate 2024
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2024
2026
2026
2026
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv https://hdl.handle.net/10230/73424
http://dx.doi.org/10.1257/app.20220030
url https://hdl.handle.net/10230/73424
http://dx.doi.org/10.1257/app.20220030
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv American Economic Journal: Applied Economics. 2024;16(1):480-509
info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/H2020/759885
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv American Economic Association
publisher.none.fl_str_mv American Economic Association
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:Repositorio Digital de la UPF
instname:Universitat Pompeu Fabra
instname_str Universitat Pompeu Fabra
reponame_str Repositorio Digital de la UPF
collection Repositorio Digital de la UPF
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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score 15,811543

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