"Self-employed persons faced severe income losses during the COVID-19 pandemic, prompting many governments to launch financial assistance programs, including Germany. In this study, we examine whether the German emergency aid program influenced the confidence of the self-employed to survive the crisis. For this purpose, we conducted an online survey of more than 20,000 self-employed individuals. Our analysis applies a treatment effects model with propensity score matching. As a result, we find that the program significantly increased the subjective survival probability among the self-employed. The effect depends on the level of education, the industry, as well as the speed of the payout.
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