Globalization and the Outbreak of COVID-19: An Empirical Analysis

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between the extension of globalization and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) case fatality rate (CFR) calculated on 28 July 2020 in more than 150 countries. Our regression analyses show that countries with higher levels of socio-economic globalization are exposed to higher levels of CFR. The positive association between the level of globalization of countries and their COVID-19 fatality rate remains robust, controlling for cross-country differences in economic development and demographics, health care costs, health care capacity, quality of governance and continental dummies.

Automated summary

The study found that countries with higher levels of globalization are more susceptible to the impact of COVID-19, resulting in higher fatality rates. Even after controlling for other factors, the positive correlation between globalization level and COVID-19 fatality rate remains.