Culture, Institution, and Policy Response to COVID-19

In a matter of two years, COVID-19 has affected almost all countries and wrought havoc on economic, social, and human life worldwide. Some countries have been successful in limiting the COVID-19 cases while others have floundered. What explains the substantial country-to-country variations in the cases of the same COVID-19 crisis? This article tries to examine this by incorporating standard variables with informal institutions such as culture and political idiosyncrasy at the center of analysis. It builds and estimates a parsimonious single equation model using the ordinary least squares technique. It relies on data from multiple sources such as the WHO, World Values Survey, World Bank, etc. The empirical estimates show that countries that have more people in the age 65 and over the category that do not lessen mobility during the study period experienced higher cases. It does not find population density or stringency measures linked to controlling cases. It shows that the countries that display cultural tightness, collectivism, and trust in government, and are not hesitant to sacrifice civil liberties during the crisis experienced fewer cases. In short, culture matters in dealing with COVID-19.