Do Political Factors Affect South Korean People’s Policy Compliance?

• In Event: Lightning Round: Research Design

Abstract

In late 2019, a novel coronavirus was detected in the province of Hubei in the People’s Republic of China. Designated as SARS-CoV-2 and abbreviated as COVID-19, the virus spread rapidly across domestic and international borders, driven by a new age of mass transport and global movement. By January 2020, recognizing the growing cases of infection worldwide, the World Health Organization declared a global health emergency and recommended affected countries to take necessary action to limit viral transmission (Velavan & Meyer, 2020). In the absence of vaccines and antiviral drugs, countries were forced to turn to a diverse array of non-pharmaceutical interventions focused on containing the virus and transmission Personal protective measures such as policies dictating the mandatory use of masks in closed public spaces for example were quickly adopted, provided a cheap yet effective method for dampening viral transmission (Betsch et al., 2020). Governments also implemented interventions which improved diagnostic testing, contact tracing, and clinical management, designed to preserve the integrity of limited healthcare infrastructure and buying time for the development of effective antiviral agents (Abouk & Heydari, 2021).
In addition, multiple countries adopted policies directly impacting the mobility of citizens that worked to limit the number of human-to-human interactions. These measures include social distancing components such as curfews, lockdowns, and the banning of large gatherings, as well as broader restrictions closing public institutions and schools and limiting non-essential travel. Although the stringency and timeline of these policies vary from country to country, overall, the implementation of social distancing and restriction of movement has been shown to be effective in curbing the transmission of COVID-19, reducing cases and deaths (Capano et al., 2020; Flaxman et al., 2020). Despite these positive public health outcomes, policies revolving around social distancing and mobility restrictions still elicit a significant amount of controversy and debate. Arguments point out the detrimental effects such policies have on economic growth and mental health, with some suggesting that the restriction of movement infringes on certain tenants of human rights. Others agree that mandates which affect the mobility of citizens can strengthen pandemic response and limit viral transmission but are difficult to enforce and politically costly, calling into question the true effectiveness of mobility restrictions and social distancing measures.
In this global crisis situation, understanding how people conform to the government's policies on the prevention of epidemics in the era of COVID-19 is crucial in terms of health security and policy effectiveness. In order to overcome the COVID-19 crisis, the government reorganizes the system and implements various policies, and the most critical point here is how well the people conform to the government's policies. In particular, it is important to analyze what factors affect people's policy compliance amid some restrictions on people's freedom to overcome the global health crisis and protect their citizens. South Korea serves as a suitable case for testing the effectiveness of government policies and citizen consent, given its less stringent COVID-19 management compared to other countries. “Less stringent restrictions” are policies that are encouraged by the government to follow, thus are not mandatory. Therefore whether to follow the "less stringent restrictions" are optional for individuals.
We argue that political ideology highly affects the level of compliance that an individual shows to government's COVID-19 policies. In other words, districts with stronger supports towards the governor of the ruling party are more likely to follow government regulations. We empirically test our argument on the “stay home” policy managed by the South Korean government aimed to decrease the number of COVID-19 confirmed patients. The “stay home” policy is not mandatory, thus not enforced, but rather is a campaign-typed policy promotion. This policy serves as a useful proxy for measuring citizens' voluntary consents on COVID-19 regulations. To test our hypothesis, we measure policy compliance by analyzing changes in the regional public transportation data at a weekly format, measured from January 2020 to June 2021. With panel regressions, we show how political factors influence people's compliance to policies by controlling social-distancing policies, regional political orientations, and the corona situation of the models. The results support that the government's social-distancing policy and regional political orientation is an important factor in shaping people's policy compliance, suggesting that the government should consider regional political orientation when implementing policies on the prevention of epidemics.

Author

• Byungwon Woo, Yonsei University