Sustainable Development Goals in Early COVID-19 Prevention and Control

Taejong Kim and Hyosun Kim
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Taejong Kim: KDI School of Public Policy and Management, Sejong 30149, Korea
Hyosun Kim: Chung-Ang Business School, Chung-Ang University, Seoul 06974, Korea

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 15, 1-12

Abstract: Recent failures in COVID-19 prevention and control in some of the richest countries raise questions about the relevance of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the fight against pandemics. To examine this issue, we adopted the measure of countries’ progress for the SDGs in the SDG Index Scores (SDGS) and employed two analytical devices. The first was regression-aided adjustment of the number of deaths and confirmed cases. The second was the use of robust regressions to control the undue influence of outliers. The results are mixed. Between the SDGS and the adjusted infection rates, we found no significant correlation; however, between the SDGS and the adjusted death rates, the correlation was negative and statistically significant. These results provide a nuanced contrast to the hasty conclusions some of us might be tempted to draw from apparent positive correlations between SDGS and the cases and the deaths. The SDGs represent the fruit of painstaking global efforts to encourage and coordinate international action to enhance sustainability. We find the results reassuring, in that they suggest that the countries with higher SDGS have been able to control the devastation of deaths from COVID-19 more effectively, despite being unable to control the propagation of infections.

Keywords: COVID-19; Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); Sustainable Development Goals Scores (SDGS); prevention and control of communicable disease (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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