Social Disparities and Social Distancing During the Covid Pandemic

Lewis Davis () and Justin Esposito
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Lewis Davis: Union College
Justin Esposito: Union College

Eastern Economic Journal, 2023, vol. 49, issue 2, No 1, 129-141

Abstract: Abstract According to Putnam (2000) and Bourdieu (1986), social disparities may result in the formation of narrow social bonds that exacerbate existing social cleavages and impede collective action. Motivated by this insight, we examine the relationship between social disparities and social distancing during the pre-vaccine Covid pandemic in the US. Using a panel of weekly, county-level observations, we find that income, educational and racial disparities are associated with a statistically significant decrease in the social distancing. This result is robust to controls for a wide variety of socioeconomic variables, the Covid infection rate, and a measure of social capital.

Keywords: Covid; Social distancing; Social capital; Inequality; Social disparities (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1057/s41302-023-00241-6

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