Role of professionalism in response to the COVID-19 pandemic : does a public health or medical background help?
Xun Li, Weizheng Lai, Qianqian Wan, Xi Chen
In response to the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), there have been substantial variations in policy response and performance for disease control and prevention within and across nations. It remains unclear to what extent these variations may be explained by bureaucrats' professionalism, as measured by their educational background or work experience in public health or medicine. To investigate the effects of officials' professionalism on their response to and performance in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, we collect information from the résumés of government and Party officials in 294 Chinese cities, and integrate this information with other data sources, including weather conditions, city characteristics, COVID-19-related policy measures, and health outcomes. We show that, on average, cities whose top officials had public health or medical backgrounds (PHMBG) had significantly lower infection rates than cities whose top officials lacked such backgrounds. We test the mechanisms of these effects and find that cities whose officials had PHMBG implemented community closure more rapidly than those lacked such backgrounds. Our findings highlight the importance of professionalism in combating the pandemic.
Year of publication: |
[2021]
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Authors: | Li, Xun ; Lai, Weizheng ; Wan, Qianqian ; Chen, Xi |
Publisher: |
Essen : Global Labor Organization (GLO) |
Subject: | COVID-19 | Professionalism | Public Health Background | Medical Background | Policy Response | Coronavirus | Gesundheitswesen | Health care system | Wirkungsanalyse | Impact assessment | Epidemie | Epidemic | Gesundheitspolitik | Health policy | Gesundheitsversorgung | Health care | Infektionskrankheit | Infectious disease |
Saved in:
freely available
Extent: | 1 Online-Ressource (circa 37 Seiten) Illustrationen |
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Series: | GLO discussion paper. - Essen : [Global Labor Organization (GLO], ZDB-ID 2951901-9. - Vol. no. 1002 |
Type of publication: | Book / Working Paper |
Type of publication (narrower categories): | Graue Literatur ; Non-commercial literature ; Arbeitspapier ; Working Paper |
Language: | English |
Other identifiers: | hdl:10419/248117 [Handle] |
Classification: | I18 - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health ; h12 ; H75 - State and Local Government: Health, Education, and Welfare ; P41 - Planning, Coordination, and Reform |
Source: | ECONIS - Online Catalogue of the ZBW |
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10012704626