Civic Capital and Social Distancing during the Covid-19 Pandemic / John M. Barrios, Efraim Benmelech, Yael V. Hochberg, Paola Sapienza, Luigi Zingales.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Barrios, John M.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Benmelech, Efraim.

Hochberg, Yael V.

Sapienza, Paola.

Zingales, Luigi.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w27320.

NBER working paper series no. w27320

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2020.

Summary:

The success of non-pharmaceutical interventions to contain pandemics often depends greatly upon voluntary compliance with government guidelines. What explains variation in voluntary compliance? Using mobile phone and survey data, we show that during the early phases of COVID-19, voluntary social distancing was higher when individuals exhibit a higher sense of civic duty. This is true for U.S. individuals, U.S. counties, and European regions. We also show that after U.S. states began re-opening, social distancing remained more prevalent in high civic capital counties. Our evidence points to the importance of civic capital in designing public policy responses to pandemics.

Notes:

Print version record

June 2020.