To measure mobility, the authors used data from Google, which shows how crowded certain places, such as supermarkets, were during the pandemic.
And the data shows that the rate of movement in countries governed by populists is double that in countries with non-populist governments. Why?
The authors identify two reasons for this to happen:
- Populist governments are reluctant to implement “unpopular policies” such as contact and mobility restrictions.
- The communication of populist governments tends to “minimize the severity of the pandemic and discredit scientific findings.”
“The high excess mortality is due to an excess of mobility, which in turn is caused by a lack of restrictions and anti-COVID-19 propaganda,” Michael Bayerlein told the Kiel institute media outlet.
The full article can be downloaded from the Journal of Political Institutions and Political Economy, here .
Mexico, the fifth country with the most deaths from COVID
Mexico, according to data from Our World in Data, is the fifth country with the most deaths from COVID-19, with 304,803. And, according to the latest data from Inegi, COVID has already become the leading cause of death. And in the first half of 2021 alone, of the 579,596 deaths registered in Mexico, 145,159 were caused by the coronavirus.
The United States is the country with the most deaths from COVID, with almost 902,196, followed by Brazil with 625,169 and India, with more than 492,356.