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Rugged individualism may be the backbone of American innovativeness and resourcefulness, but it can also be dangerous—particularly during a pandemic that desperately calls for collective action. 1/n
These dangers were pinpointed by @juliaioffe early on. And yesterday @Elizabeth_Cobbs made the connection between America's "confused response to Covid-19" and the formative role of the frontier in U.S. history. 2/n
Links to their articles:
https://www.gq.com/story/american-individualism-in-the-age-of-coronavirus
https://www.ft.com/content/95b9ee10-11be-4530-beb3-42b3ea7b5db0 3/n
https://www.gq.com/story/american-individualism-in-the-age-of-coronavirus
https://www.ft.com/content/95b9ee10-11be-4530-beb3-42b3ea7b5db0 3/n
With @SamuelBazzi and @melesemesay, we show that historical frontier experience across US counties explains the long-run prevalence of rugged individualism—a distinctive combination of individualism and opposition to government intervention. 4/n
https://www.nber.org/papers/w23997
https://www.nber.org/papers/w23997
Turning to the Covid-19 era, why could rugged individualism be dangerous? Because effective responses—including social distancing and other non-pharmaceutical interventions—require internalization of externatilies, as well as strong, concerted public policies. 5/n
Collective action can be badly hampered by the primacy of personal goals over group goals and the regulation of behavior by personal attitudes rather than social norms. Anti-statism and distrust in science compound the problem. 6/n
Preview of our new research: after the national emergency declaration on March 13, places that spent a longer time on the frontier historically maintain higher mobility (non-essential visits), even after accounting for differences across states (this is a binned scatterplot) 7/n
Counties with longer frontier history maintain higher mobility (i.e. likely less social distancing) relative to other counties starting right around the national emergency declaration (here’s an event-study specification) 8/n
Clamoring for freedom against common-sense norms and against societal responsibility seems like a dangerous spin of rugged individualism. 9/n
Many Americans are taking care of themselves and their communities and contributing to the common good, sometimes making huge personal sacrifices. This spirit is also a part of American history. n/n
