Willingness to bear economic costs of measures against SARS-CoV-2 in Germany

• Main Authors: Hans-Helmut König (Author), Freia De Bock (Author), Philipp Sprengholz (Author), Benedikt Kretzler (Author), André Hajek (Author)
• Format: Book
• Published: BMC, 2021-09-01T00:00:00Z.
• Subjects: article
• Online Access: Connect to this object online.
• Notes: 10.1186/s12889-021-11734-4; 1471-2458
• Keywords: Willingness to accept; Willingness to pay; Covid-19; SARS-CoV-2; Corona-virus; Economic costs; Public aspects of medicine; RA1-1270
• Source: BMC Public Health, Vol 21, Iss 1, Pp 1-11 (2021)

Abstract Background The aim of this study was to assess the willingness of the general population in Germany to bear the economic costs of measures against the spread of SARS-CoV-2. Methods Repeated cross-sectional data were taken from three waves of a nationally representative survey of individuals aged 18 to 74 years (wave 8: 21-22 April 2020, N = 976; wave 16: 7-8 July 2020, N = 977; wave 38: 9-10 March 2021). The willingness to accept a reduction of annual household income in order to bear the economic costs of the measures against SARS-CoV-2 served as outcome measure. Two-part models were used including explanatory variables on sociodemographic and (subjectively assessed) potential health hazard caused by COVID-19. Results 65.5% (61.6%; 56.9%) of respondents in wave 8 (wave 16; wave 38) were willing to accept a reduction of income, with the likelihood for accepting a reduction of income being positively associated with higher affect (i.e. emotional reaction) and presumed severity regarding COVID-19 in all three waves. The mean maximum percentage of income participants were willing to give up was 3.3% (95% CI: 2.9 to 3.7%) in wave 8, 2.9% (95% CI: 2.5 to 3.3%) in wave 16 and 4.3% (95% CI: 3.6 to 5.0%) in wave 38, with presumed severity of COVID-19 being positively associated with this percentage in all three waves. Conclusions The majority of respondents indicated willingness to sacrifice income in order to bear the costs of measures against the spread of SARS-CoV-2, with the potential health hazard caused by COVID-19 being consistently associated with this willingness. However, the proportion of individuals who were willing to give up income slightly decreased throughout the pandemic.