Psychology in times of crisis: An economic psychological analysis of the coronavirus pandemic

When the SARS-CoV-2 virus reached us in Europe, we panicked. Life was scaled down to the bare essentials and tentatively loosened up again. The lockdown is followed by huge changes. There is no return to familiar normality in sight. How did we experience the threat to our health and the changes to the familiar rituals of life? What followed shock and fear? How did we manage to discard long-rehearsed rituals and accept the challenges? How will we talk about the policies after the lockdown, what will we remember and what will we have learned from the crisis? This Essential offers an economic psychological analysis of the complex interplay between state, organisations and people from the beginning of the crisis to the repair phase. The book's content includes: the coronavirus crisis from an economic psychology perspective;onset of the crisis at micro, meso and macro levels;living in the crisis at micro, meso and macro levels;repair and retrospection. Target groups include: entrepreneurs, the self-employed, political scientists, psychologists, sociologists, economists, economists and students of all social sciences. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

The economic crisis during the COVID-19 pandemic has a negative effect on tax compliance: Results from a scenario study in Austria.

In a scenario study with 1200 Austrian taxpayers, we examined how tax compliance is affected by the economic crisis related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, we investigated the potential of trust in government, attitude towards taxes, and justice perceptions in mitigating potential effects. The results suggest a strong effect of the economic environment on tax compliance. Specifically, tax compliance was lower in scenarios where the pandemic had a negative effect on the economy than in scenarios with no negative effect. However, for individuals with a positive attitude towards taxes, compliance was not lower in a negative economic environment than in pre-COVID-19 times. Moreover, we found that taxpayers who were not affected economically, taxpayers with a positive attitude towards taxes, and taxpayers with a low propensity to take risks generally indicated higher levels of tax compliance. Exploratory analyses indicate that taxpayers who change their compliance behavior in response to the economic environment are, on average, younger, less educated, more strongly affected economically, and more uncertain about their current economic situation than taxpayers with stable compliance levels. Policy interventions should target these groups to strengthen tax compliance in times of crisis.