Social capital and vaccination compliance: Evidence from Italy
利用意大利2021年1月至10月的高频疫苗接种数据，发现社会资本较高的城市每周疫苗接种覆盖率高出1.60个百分点，且该效应在年轻群体中更显著。
Exploiting high-frequency vaccination data for COVID-19 and social capital measures at the municipal level in Italy between January and October 2021, this paper estimates the effect of social capital on vaccination compliance. We find that weekly vaccination coverage increased up to 1.60 percentage points more in municipalities with higher social capital. Results do not differ by gender and the effect is mainly driven by younger generations. Our findings shed light on the role of social capital as a driver of health protective behavior. • Local social capital is a significant driver of vaccination compliance. • Up to 1.6 pp more in weekly vaccination coverage in high social capital areas. • Social capital effects are stronger for younger generations (<40 years old). • Main effects are robust to different measures of social capital and vaccination coverage. • Results are confirmed by alternative model specifications and sample splits.