Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/282491 
Year of Publication: 
2023
Series/Report no.: 
CESifo Working Paper No. 10803
Publisher: 
Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo), Munich
Abstract: 
This paper investigates the factors that contributed to the proliferation of online COVID skepticism on Twitter across Italian municipalities. We demonstrate that socio-demographic factors are likely to mitigate the emergence of skepticism, while populist political leanings were more likely to foster it. Furthermore, we find that the presence of pre-COVID anti-vax sentiment, represented by old "truthers" on Twitter, amplifies online COVID skepticism in local communities. Additionally, exploiting the spatial variation in economic restrictive policies with severe implications for suspended workers belonging to non-essential economic sectors, we find that COVID skepticism spreads more in municipalities significantly affected by this economic lockdown. Finally, the diffusion of COVID skepticism is positively associated with COVID vaccine hesitancy.
Subjects: 
Twitter
scepticism
public health
media
vaccines
Covid-19
JEL: 
I12
I18
J28
J60
C80
L82
Document Type: 
Working Paper
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