The Institutional and Cultural Context of Cross-National Variation in COVID-19 Outbreaks

Background The COVID-19 pandemic poses an unprecedented and cascading threat to the health and economic prosperity of the world’s population. Objectives To understand whether the institutional and cultural context influences the COVID-19 outbreak. Methods At the ecological level, regression coefficients are examined to figure out contextual variables influencing the pandemic’s exponential growth rate across 96 countries. Results While a strong institutional context is negatively associated with the outbreak (B = −0.55 … −0.64, p < 0.001), the pandemic’s growth rate is steeper in countries with a quality education system (B = 0.33, p < 0.001). Countries with an older population are more affected (B = 0.46, p < 0.001). Societies with individualistic (rather than collectivistic) values experience a flatter rate of pathogen proliferation (B = −0.31, p < 0.001), similarly for higher levels of power distance (B = −0.32, p < 0.001). Hedonistic values, that is seeking indulgence and not enduring restraints, are positively related to the outbreak (B = 0.23, p = 0.001). Conclusions The results emphasize the need for public policy makers to pay close attention to the institutional and cultural context in their respective countries when instigating measures aimed at constricting the pandemic’s growth.