Table 10.
Definitions of variables and data sources
| Variable | Description | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Pronoun drop | A dummy variable that indicates whether the language allows the personal pronoun to be dropped, where 1 indicates “allow” and 0 otherwise | Abdurazokzoda and Davis (2016) |
| Latitude | The absolute value of the latitude of each country | CIA World Fact Book (2017) |
| Dist_coast | Average distance to nearest ice-free coast (1000 km) | “nunn_dist_coast” and “nunn_rugged” from The Quality of Government Standard Dataset 2020 (QOG, hereafter) |
| Ruggedness | Ruggedness is measured in hundreds of meters of elevation difference for grid points 30 arc-seconds apart | |
| Precipitation | Average precipitation is the long-term average in depth (over space and time) of annual precipitation in the country | “wdi_precip” from QOG |
| Age1564 | Percentage of the population between the ages 15 and 64 | World Bank dataset, https://data.worldbank.org.cn/ |
| Density | Population per square kilometer | JHU CCSE COVID-19 Data Repository on Github: |
| Government Response | The number of days from the date the first case in a country was reported to the date the country started to implement policies with a stringency index larger than 20 | Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker (OxCGRT) (www.bsg.ox.ac.uk/COVIDtracker) |
| Quality of Government | The mean value of the variables “Corruption”, “Law and Order,” and “Bureaucracy Quality” scaled 0–1. Higher values indicate higher quality of government | “icrg_qog” from QOG |
| GDP per capita | GDP per capita based on purchasing power parity (PPP). Data are in constant 2011 international dollars | “wdi_gdpcappppcon2011” from QOG |
| Personal Autonomy | Countries are graded between 0 (worst) and 16 (best) on personal autonomy and individual rights | “fh_pair” from QOG |
| Legal Origins | Legal origins dummies for UK, France, Socialist, German, and Scandinavian = 1 if legal origin; 0 otherwise | “lp_legor” from QOG |
| Catholics | Catholics as a percentage of the population in 1980 | “lp_catho80” from QOG |
| Muslims | Muslims as a percentage of the population in 1980 | “lp_muslim80” from QOG |
| Other Denomination | Percentage of the population belonging to other denominations (except Protestants, Catholics, and Muslims) in 1980 | “lp_no_cpm80” from QOG |
| Trust | Fraction of respondents who answered “yes” to the question “most people can be trusted.” We take the average value for all the available waves of the survey | WVS Database |
| Index of Democratization | The index of democratization is formed by multiplying the competition and the participation variables and then dividing the outcome by 100 | “van_index” from QOG |
| Level of Democracy | The scale ranges from 0–10, where 0 is the least democratic and ten the most democratic | “fh_ipolity2” from QOG |
| Power distance | The extent to which the less powerful members of a society accept and expect that power is distributed unequally | Hofstede et al. (2010)/2010, retrieved from http://geert-hofstede.com and https://www.hofstede-insights.com/ |
| Masculinity | The extent to which a society favors achievement, heroism, assertiveness, and material rewards for success | |
| Uncertainty avoidance | The extent to which the members of a society feel uncomfortable with uncertainty and ambiguity | |
| Long-term orientation | The extent to which a society favors a more pragmatic approach by encouraging thrift and efforts in modern education as a way to prepare for the future | |
| Indulgence | The extent to which a society allows relatively free gratification of basic and natural human drives related to enjoying life and having fun |