Divided we stay home: Social distancing and ethnic diversity

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Egorov, Georgy; Enikolopov, Ruben; Makarin, Alexey; Petrova, Maria
• 署名单位: Northwestern University; National Bureau of Economic Research; ICREA; Pompeu Fabra University; Barcelona School of Economics; Barcelona School of Economics; ICREA; Pompeu Fabra University
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0047-2727
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2020.104328
• 发表日期: 2021
• 关键词: covid-19; pandemic; Social distancing; Self-isolation; Quarantine; fractionalization; diversity; altruism; xenophobia; RUSSIA

摘要

Homogeneous societies usually provide more public goods. Voluntary social distancing in a pandemic is also a public good, but it has private benefits, too. Theoretically, we show that presence of population groups with different rationales for social distancing can lead to stricter observance of social distancing in more diverse societies. Empirically, we find that mobility reduction following the first local COVID-19 case was stronger in Russian cities with higher ethnic fractionalization and xenophobia. For identification, we predict the timing of the first case using historical patterns of internal migration. Using the United States data on mobility produces similar results. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.