Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

A commentary on “The trouble with trust : Time-series analysis of social capital, income inequality, and COVID-19 deaths in 84 countries”

Lindström, Martin LU (2020) In Social Science and Medicine 263.
Abstract

This study investigates associations between central aspects of social capital (social trust, group affiliations, civic engagement, confidence in state institutions), income inequality (Gini index for income), and COVID-19 mortality in 84 countries included in different time waves of the World Values Survey (WVS) (Elgar et al., 2020). Comments: First, infectious diseases are either patterned according to socioeconomic status (SES), determined by e.g. habitus, nutrition and crowded housing or clustering, or not according to SES. Second, the focus on economic inequality measured as income inequality (Gini index) should be complemented with measures of wealth inequality (Gini index for wealth), following the globalization process with tax... (More)

This study investigates associations between central aspects of social capital (social trust, group affiliations, civic engagement, confidence in state institutions), income inequality (Gini index for income), and COVID-19 mortality in 84 countries included in different time waves of the World Values Survey (WVS) (Elgar et al., 2020). Comments: First, infectious diseases are either patterned according to socioeconomic status (SES), determined by e.g. habitus, nutrition and crowded housing or clustering, or not according to SES. Second, the focus on economic inequality measured as income inequality (Gini index) should be complemented with measures of wealth inequality (Gini index for wealth), following the globalization process with tax exempted multinational companies. Third, the aspects of social capital were measured in different time waves of the World Values Survey (WVS) for different countries, which is a weakness because trust and other aspects of social capital vary over time and depend on specific events and social and economic trends.

(Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Covid-19, Gini index, Infectious diseases, Institutional trust, Pandemic, Social capital, Sweden, Trust
in
Social Science and Medicine
volume
263
article number
113386
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • pmid:33036797
  • scopus:85092055273
ISSN
0277-9536
DOI
10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.113386
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
52ef02f0-4aef-487a-b052-7fd157a25023
date added to LUP
2020-11-06 15:06:07
date last changed
2024-06-12 23:18:30
@misc{52ef02f0-4aef-487a-b052-7fd157a25023,
  abstract     = {{<p>This study investigates associations between central aspects of social capital (social trust, group affiliations, civic engagement, confidence in state institutions), income inequality (Gini index for income), and COVID-19 mortality in 84 countries included in different time waves of the World Values Survey (WVS) (Elgar et al., 2020). Comments: First, infectious diseases are either patterned according to socioeconomic status (SES), determined by e.g. habitus, nutrition and crowded housing or clustering, or not according to SES. Second, the focus on economic inequality measured as income inequality (Gini index) should be complemented with measures of wealth inequality (Gini index for wealth), following the globalization process with tax exempted multinational companies. Third, the aspects of social capital were measured in different time waves of the World Values Survey (WVS) for different countries, which is a weakness because trust and other aspects of social capital vary over time and depend on specific events and social and economic trends.</p>}},
  author       = {{Lindström, Martin}},
  issn         = {{0277-9536}},
  keywords     = {{Covid-19; Gini index; Infectious diseases; Institutional trust; Pandemic; Social capital; Sweden; Trust}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Social Science and Medicine}},
  title        = {{A commentary on “The trouble with trust : Time-series analysis of social capital, income inequality, and COVID-19 deaths in 84 countries”}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.113386}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.113386}},
  volume       = {{263}},
  year         = {{2020}},
}