Rugged Individualism and Collective (In)action During the COVID-19 Pandemic / Samuel Bazzi, Martin Fiszbein, Mesay Gebresilasse.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bazzi, Samuel.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Fiszbein, Martin.

Gebresilasse, Mesay.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w27776.

NBER working paper series no. w27776

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Other Title:

Rugged Individualism and Collective

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2020.

Summary:

Rugged individualism--the combination of individualism and anti-statism--is a prominent feature of American culture with deep roots in the country's history of frontier settlement. Today, rugged individualism is more prevalent in counties with greater total frontier experience (TFE) during the era of westward expansion. While individualism may be conducive to innovation, it can also undermine collective action, with potentially adverse social consequences. We show that America's frontier culture hampered the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Across U.S. counties, greater TFE is associated with less social distancing and mask use as well as weaker local government effort to control the virus. We argue that frontier culture lies at the root of several more proximate explanations for the weak collective response to public health risks, including a lack of civic duty, partisanship, and distrust in science.

Notes:

Print version record

September 2020.