Social capital and the spread of Covid-19: Insights from European countries

Sebastian Siegloch, Alina Bartscher, Sebastian Seitz, Michaela Slotwinski and Wehrhöfer, Nils

No 14866, CEPR Discussion Papers from Centre for Economic Policy Research

Abstract: We investigate the effect of social capital on health outcomes during the Covid-19 pandemic in independent analyses for Austria, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland. Exploiting detailed geographical variation within countries, we show that a one-standard-deviation increase in social capital leads to between 14% and 34% fewer Covid-19 cases per capita accumulated from mid-March until end of June 2020, as well as between 6% and 35% fewer excess deaths per capita. Our results highlight the positive health returns of strengthening social capital.

Keywords: Covid-19; Social capital; Collective action; Health costs; Europe (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A13 D04 D91 H11 H12 I10 I18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea and nep-soc
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (49)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Social capital and the spread of covid-19: Insights from european countries (2021)
Working Paper: Social capital and the spread of Covid-19: Insights from European countries (2020)
Working Paper: Social Capital and the Spread of Covid-19: Insights from European Countries (2020)
Working Paper: Social Capital and the Spread of COVID-19: Insights from European Countries (2020)
Working Paper: Social capital and the spread of Covid-19: Insights from European countries (2020)
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