Emilio Depetris-Chauvin, P. Catholic University of Chile

"The Political Consequences of Vaccines: Quasi-experimental Evidence from Eligibility Rules"

Abstract

Vaccines are responsible for large increases in human welfare and yet we know surprisingly little about the political impacts of vaccination campaigns implemented by the state. We fill this gap by studying the case of Chile, which offers a rare combination of high-stakes elections, voluntary voting, and a vaccination process that is halfway implemented by election day. Crucially, the roll-out of vaccines had exogenous eligibility rules which we combine with a pre-analysis plan for causal identification. We find that higher vaccination rates boost political participation and empower outsiders irrespective of their party affiliation.

Contact person: Pablo Selaya