The influence of democracy, governance and government policies on the COVID-19 pandemic mortality

Abstract

The paper analyses the determinants of mortality during the Corona pandemic. In a first step, possible causes are subjected to a global comparison.The focus is on political, institutional, economic, demographic and health policy factors. It is shown that, contrary to the assumption, democratic countries have a higher Covid-19 mortality. In a second step, the developed democracies are then analysed to explain this puzzle. Here, more detailed information is used than in the global comparison. It turns out that, measured by the Oxford Stringency Index, government action has been largely unsuccessful. Also, the party-political composition of the government does not play a role.The most important factors are a country's governance structures, the level of corona incidence, a country's burden of high-risk patients and its health system. In addition, cultural factors and the vaccination rate seem to have an influence on mortality.