This study examines the effect of the elderly population on SARS-CoV-2 Disease (COVID-19) mortality for a sample of 146 countries. It shows that the elderly population is robustly associated with higher COVID-19 mortality. This effect, however, decreases significantly in countries with higher...

Based on comparative empirical evidence for 22 major OECD countries, I argue that country differences in cumulative mortality impacts of SARS-CoV-2 are largely caused by: (1) weaknesses in public health competence by country; (2) pre-existing country-wise variations in structural socio-economic...