Business, as usual? The impact of organized economic interests on the stringency of Covid-19 containment policies: insights from the Italian case

How do organized economic interests affect the governance of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic? We investigate whether the structural and instrumental power of employer organizations and unions impact upon the stringency of containment measures implemented by governing authorities to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic, focusing on Italy during the first Covid-19 wave of early 2020 as a crucial case. Using Hausman–Taylor panel regression models and original indicators of regional stringency and of unions and employers’ organizations’ efforts to exercise instrumental power via public pressure on social media, we find that the intensity of public pressure by employer organizations is negatively correlated with the stringency of the policy responses implemented by regional authorities to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic, whilst union pressures only show a limited effect. Our findings demonstrate that business pressure and the interplay of economic and class interests are constitutive of the governance of a crucial social and public health phenomenon such as the Covid-19 pandemic.