Burden-shifting, encroaching and shirking: Federalism in a pandemic crisis

Vera Z. Eichenauer1, Simon Hug2 3, Pascal Sciarini4, Jan-Egbert Sturm 5, Frédéric Varone6
 
KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich
 
Département de science politique et relations internationales,
Université de Genève
 
CefES, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca

First version: January 2021, this version: May 31, 2021

Abstract

Responding to a novel pandemic took many governments unaware, and especially in federal countries the interplay among executives at different levels proved difficult and illustrated that inherent tensions in federations. Drawing on data covering the temporal evolution of the epidemological, economic and political situation at the cantonal level in Switzerland, we assess how subnational governments, as a function of their ideological composition, reacted to the public health and economic situation over time. We find evidence that the partisanship of the health and finance ministers proved important for cantonal responses, also by affecting measures taken in neighboring cantons.


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