Culture, Freedom, and the Spread of Covid‐19: Do Some Societies and Political Systems Have National Anti‐Bodies?

Abstract

Public health scholars have previously explored the impact of culture upon various aspects of infectious disease policy. Similarly, regime type, while less studied, has been suggested as a possible explanation for varying rates of efficacy in infection vulnerability, mitigation, and abatement. The COVID‐19 pandemic offers an intriguing opportunity to test whether culture or level of societal freedom affects how different societies manage a serious pandemic challenge. We examine whether societies that are more free or have different cultures are more or less effective at managing the spread of COVID‐19. To examine possible correlational pathways, we conduct a country‐level regression analysis. After controlling for population size, income, stringency of government policies, population density, and age dispersion, we find that the level of freedom in a political system is unrelated to rates of COVID‐19 infection, at least in the time period under study. By contrast, two cultural families seemed to show at least temporary superiority in disease response: Confucian and South Asian culturally affiliated nations. While our results may be artifacts of aspects of the disease not yet revealed by science, if they are sustained by future research, they potentially offer insights into unusual intersections of culture and public health.

Impact of Societal Culture on Covid-19 Morbidity and Mortality across Countries

“…After the Covid-19 outbreak, researchers have found that cultural features indeed seem to influence Covid-19 morbidity and mortality. Using the cultural groupings of countries based on the World Values Survey (Inglehart & Welzel, 2005), Mayer et al (2020) find that countries in two cultural families-Confucian and South Asian-seem particularly successful in containing Covid-19 morbidity rates. In a country-specific study, Huang (2020) find that collectivism and fear of Covid-19 together perhaps drive people's preventive intentions in China.…”

“…Although these studies indicate that societal culture may indeed influence Covid-19 outcomes, further research is needed to develop better understanding. Some researchers (e.g., Gokmen et al, 2021;Ibanez & Sisodia, 2020) have called for further research as they studied a limited set of countries, while some others (e.g., Cao et al, 2020;Mayer et al, 2020) appeal researchers to update their findings as their findings are based on Covid-19 data during a limited time window. It is also difficult to ignore the construct validity concerns vis-à-vis many scales used to derive these findings (e.g., Brewer & Venaik, 2011;Minkov & Kaasa, 2020).…”

“…Per capita GDP can influence the capacity of a country to detect, prevent, and respond to Covid-19 outbreak (Kandel et al, 2020). Researchers investigating the impact of culture on infectious diseases in general (e.g., Matsumoto & Fletcher, 1996) and on Covid-19 outcomes in particular (Gelfand et al, 2021;Mayer et al, 2020) have controlled for per capita GDP. Hence, it seemed a suitable variable to control.…”

“…In fact, some researchers (e.g., Mackenbach, 2014) believe that cultural features could significantly determine healthy behaviors and spread of a range of ailments. Perhaps not surprisingly, researchers (e.g., Bavel et al, 2020;Mayer et al, 2020) believe that culture could be strongly associated with Covid-19 outcomes as well. After the outbreak of Covid-19, researchers (e.g., Mayer et al, 2020) have begun noticing that cultural features could impact the efficacy of measures taken for its containment.…”

“…Perhaps not surprisingly, researchers (e.g., Bavel et al, 2020;Mayer et al, 2020) believe that culture could be strongly associated with Covid-19 outcomes as well. After the outbreak of Covid-19, researchers (e.g., Mayer et al, 2020) have begun noticing that cultural features could impact the efficacy of measures taken for its containment. More directly, Gelfand et al (2021) find that the tightness of norms in a country may underlie lower Covid-19 morbidity and mortality.…”