Thread by @phenomstruck

So who is surprised? Rhetorical question. (Mini thread)
Researchers analysed differing policy responses and total #Covid19 cases and deaths until 19 May A number of variables were used to help analyse the raw data and draw reliable country comparisons.
theguardian.com/world/2020/aug…

Datasets/variables considered were GDP, total population, population density and proportion of elderly residents, as well as annual health spending per head, openness to international travel and level of gender equality in society in general.

Since only 19 of the nearly 200 countries were led by women, the authors also created so-called “nearest neighbour” countries to offset the small sample size, pairing Germany, New Zealand and Bangladesh with male-led Britain, Ireland and Pakistan.

Risk: Females leaders were risk averse regarding lives (significantly earlier lockdown)
Economy: Female leaders were “more willing to take risks in the domain of the economy”.
Openness to travel: Female-led countries reported lower deaths, suggesting better policies/compliance.

Conclusion: Evidence of a “significant and systematic difference” showed that even accounting for institutional context and other controls, “being female-led has provided countries with an advantage in the current crisis”.
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cf…