Can the Regime Type (Democracy versus Autocracy) Explain the COVID-19 Recovery Rates?

Abstract

COVID-19 is an example of worldwide and unanticipated global crisis. This study provides an example of crisis management in different countries and regime types. Previous studies provide evidence supporting reduced infant mortality as well as increased life expectancy with higher levels of democracy. These findings lead to the conventional wisdom that democracies provide conditions that promote better health for their citizens. The current study seeks to investigate health-democracy relationship in the context of recovery from COVID-19 disease. Unlike the conventional wisdom and based on 169 countries and regions around the world, for which information regarding accumulated recovery rates from coronavirus and Freedom House measures of democracy are available, findings suggest better projected prospects of recovery from COVID-19 disease in more "autocratic" countries. These findings may be explained on the grounds of (1) inefficient law enforcement in more democratic countries and (2) stronger autoimmune response (a cytokine storm, associated with COVID-19 severity) in Western countries due to excessive hygienic environmental conditions and, consequently, lack of exposure to different pathogens.