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

König, Hans-Helmut; De Bock, Freia; Sprengholz, Philipp; Kretzler, Benedikt; Hajek, André

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. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12889-021-11734-4.