COVID ECONOMICS, VETTED AND REAL-TIME PAPERS ISSUE 60, 4 DECEMBER 202

Abstract

This paper provides an empirical analysis of the relationship between the strength of family ties and the spread of Sars-CoV-2. The dataset is constructed for a cross-section of 63 countries combining di!erent data sources, to cover seven dimensions: the spread of the virus, family ties, trust and religion, policies implemented to stop the outbreak, status of the economy, geography, demography. We observe a robust positive relationship between family ties and the contagion rate across the world; in particular, the a"itude of parents towards the wellbeing for their children is the main force that drives the positive correlation with the contagion. Instead, the respect toward parents (the variable love- parents) seems to be a component of the family ties which negatively correlates with the di!usion of Sars-CoV-2, leading to the final quadratic relationship between the overall family ties strength and the spread of the virus. As conclusive evidence, we observe that the death rate, as well as the recovery rate, are not a!ected by the strength of family ties and other social capital variables. What ma"ers, in this case, are structural variables like GPD, number of hospital beds per capita, life expectance, median age and geographical location.