Laliotis Ioannis, Minos Dimitrios
University of Peloponnese, Department of Economics, Greece.
City University of London, Department of Economics, United Kingdom.
Eur Econ Rev. 2022 Jan;141:103992. doi: 10.1016/j.euroecorev.2021.103992. Epub 2021 Nov 30.
This paper investigates how social interactions, as shaped by religious denomination, are related to COVID-19 incidence and associated mortality in Western Germany. We observe that the number of infections and deaths during the early pandemic phase were much higher in predominantly Catholic counties with arguably stronger family and social ties. The relationship was confirmed at the county level through numerous robustness checks, and after controlling for a series of characteristics and county fixed effects. At the individual level, we confirmed that Catholics, relative to non-Catholics, have tighter and more frequent interactions with their family and friends. Moreover, the intensity of social interaction was able to partially explain the relationship between COVID-19 incidence and share of Catholics at the county level. Our results highlight the number of dimensions that have to be taken into account when designing and implementing mitigation measures in the early stages of disease outbreaks.
本文研究了由宗教派别塑造的社会互动如何与德国西部的新冠疫情发病率及相关死亡率相关联。我们观察到，在疫情初期，家庭和社会关系可能更为紧密的主要为天主教徒的县，感染和死亡人数要高得多。通过大量稳健性检验，并在控制了一系列特征和县级固定效应后，这种关系在县级层面得到了证实。在个体层面，我们证实，相对于非天主教徒，天主教徒与家人和朋友的互动更为紧密和频繁。此外，社会互动的强度能够部分解释县级层面新冠疫情发病率与天主教徒比例之间的关系。我们的研究结果凸显了在疾病爆发初期设计和实施缓解措施时必须考虑的多个维度。
