Social Capital, Import Competition, and Vaccine Uptake

Abstract

This research note examines the relationship between social capital, economic globalization, and COVID-19 vaccines in U.S. counties. The author argues that the positive health benefits of community-level social capital can be undermined by import competition. Leveraging data from U.S. counties this note shows that the positive correlation between community social capital and vaccine uptake is lower in communities harder hit by import competition. This is however only the case for bridging and not for bonding social capital. These findings indicate that economic globalization can undermine the positive health impact of community social capital which has implications for inequalities in public health as well as responses to major health crises.