Climate risk, culture and the Covid-19 mortality: A cross-country analysis

TY - JOUR

T1 - Climate risk, culture and the Covid-19 mortality

T2 - A cross-country analysis

AU - Ozkan, Aydin

AU - Ozkan, Gulcin

AU - Yalaman, Abdullah

AU - Yildiz, Yilmaz

PY - 2021/5

Y1 - 2021/5

N2 - Why have some countries done significantly better than others in fighting the Covid-19 pandemic? Had some countries been better prepared than others? This paper attempts to shed light on these questions by examining the role of climate risk and culture in explaining the cross-country variation in the Covid19 mortality, while controlling for other potential drivers. In our analysis, we consider climate risk, readiness to climate change and individualism as main indicators reflecting the climate and culture status of individual countries. Using data from 110 countries, we find that the greater the climate risk; the lower the readiness to climate change and the more individualistic the society, the higher the pandemic mortality rate. We also present a series of sensitivity checks and show that our findings are robust to different specifications, alternative definitions of the mortality rate; and different estimation methods. One policy implication arising from our results is that countries that were better prepared for the climate emergency were also better placed to fight the pandemic. Overall, countries in which individuals look after each other and the environment, creating sustainable societies, are better able tocope with climate and public health emergencies.

AB - Why have some countries done significantly better than others in fighting the Covid-19 pandemic? Had some countries been better prepared than others? This paper attempts to shed light on these questions by examining the role of climate risk and culture in explaining the cross-country variation in the Covid19 mortality, while controlling for other potential drivers. In our analysis, we consider climate risk, readiness to climate change and individualism as main indicators reflecting the climate and culture status of individual countries. Using data from 110 countries, we find that the greater the climate risk; the lower the readiness to climate change and the more individualistic the society, the higher the pandemic mortality rate. We also present a series of sensitivity checks and show that our findings are robust to different specifications, alternative definitions of the mortality rate; and different estimation methods. One policy implication arising from our results is that countries that were better prepared for the climate emergency were also better placed to fight the pandemic. Overall, countries in which individuals look after each other and the environment, creating sustainable societies, are better able tocope with climate and public health emergencies.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85100314416&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.worlddev.2021.105412

DO - 10.1016/j.worlddev.2021.105412

M3 - Article

SN - 0305-750X

VL - 141

JO - WORLD DEVELOPMENT

JF - WORLD DEVELOPMENT

M1 - 105412

ER -