What does COVID-19 teach us about the role of national culture? Evidence from social distancing restrictions

Badar Nadeem Ashraf, Sadok El Ghoul, John W. Goodell and Omrane Guedhami

Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, 2022, vol. 80, issue C

Abstract: In this paper, we exploit the immediacy, magnitude, and global extent of the COVID-19 shock to investigate the role of national culture in determining differences in publicly imposed social distancing restrictions. Employing the Stringency Index of the Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker database for 85 countries, we find that countries with higher values of Hofstede’s power distance adopted more stringent social distancing measures in response to COVID-19. In contrast, countries with more heightened individualism and long-term orientation implemented fewer such policies. Further, culture impacts the quickness to adopt social distancing policies. Results are robust to using alternative measures of national culture and controlling for endogeneity. They are also robust to extending the sample to the end of June 2021, using daily observations. Results suggest that societies rich in the cultural qualities of individualism and long-term orientation, often seen as promoting economic cooperation and stability, are less effective at dealing with sudden and transformative public policy crises than those with high levels of power distance. Results confirm the potent role of national culture in impacting institutions.

Keywords: COVID-19; Pandemic; Social distancing polices; National culture; Public health; Social polices (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H1 I1 Z1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:intfin:v:80:y:2022:i:c:s1042443122001196

DOI: 10.1016/j.intfin.2022.101647

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