Divided by borders, united in healthcare? : regional heterogeneities and technocratic solidarity during the Covid-19 pandemic

Abstract

It is not only the states of the European Union (EU) that are heterogeneous in many respects, but also the regions existing within them. In this paper, we make use of a conjoint experiment on a particular type of technocratic solidarity – joint procurement of medical countermeasures (JPMC) – to explore how old and new regional-level heterogeneities affect public support for such type of solidarity. To this end, we exploit an experimental dataset, covering five EU countries at different phases of the Covid-19 pandemic in spring 2020. Our experimental results show that a broad policy scope, allocation based on need and EU governance all raise support for JPMC. Moreover, economically weaker regions and areas more severely hit by the pandemic exhibit stronger public backing for JPMC. Turning to the link between regional heterogeneities and specific design features of JPMC, evidence suggests that wealthier regions display greater public backing for a broader scope of the policy. Thus, our results suggest that public preferences for technocratic solidarity are generally strong, but also depend to some extent on regional collective rationalism.