Individualism and the Health–Economy Tradeoff During the COVID‐19 Pandemic: Evidence From the European Social Survey

ABSTRACT Nationwide containment measures implemented by governments to fight the COVID‐19 pandemic have incurred substantial economic costs, presenting individuals with a tradeoff between public health measures and their economic consequences. Drawing on cultural theory, we investigate the relationship between individualism and individuals’ health–economy tradeoffs during the pandemic and the moderating role of risk perception. Using European Social Survey (ESS) data, our study reveals that individuals with higher levels of individualism prioritize economic activities over public health during the pandemic. Specifically, each additional point increase in individualism raises the probability of prioritizing economic activity over public health by 0.4%. Moreover, higher perceived economic risk weakens individualists’ preference for economic activities and enhances their assessment of health choices. Perceived health risk, however, demonstrates no significant effect. Furthermore, mediation analysis reveals that individualism negatively correlates with trust in government, indirectly weakening individualists’ preference for economic activities. Finally, our heterogeneity analysis reveals that the positive correlation between individualism and economic preferences is stronger among young individuals, high‐income and highly educated groups, employees in private enterprises and self‐employed sectors and residents in countries without socialist regime experience. We suggest that strategies to promote public policy support during challenging periods should be tailored to cultural and social contexts.