COVID-19, and the pressure to emulate

A surprising finding emerges from observing how different countries, confronted with different conditions and different epidemiological circumstances, have acted against the spread of COVID-19: the same restrictive policies, instead of spreading gradually across the various countries, have been adopted more or less at the same time. The explanation cannot lie only in the fact that a similar problem has been tackled with similar and more or less simultaneous (or more or less preventive) actions. On the subject, a study has been carried out by Prof. Stefan Arora-Jonsson of USI Institute of Management and Organisation together with colleagues from the Linköping University, the Stockholm Ratio Institute and the University of Gothenburg. It shows, through the analysis and modelling of different variables, that the substantial simultaneity is driven by mimicry of what has been decided in other countries, especially those geographically nearest. A "pressure" to act - or to wait - which may have pushed some governments to "close" too soon - or too late.   According to the data collected by the University of Oxford, four of the main "social" measures (properly, "non-pharmaceutical interventions") spread to about 80% of the countries members of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) within two weeks in March. These policies, aimed at fighting the spread of novel coronavirus pandemic, include schools closures, the lockdown of economic activities, cancellation of public events and restrictions on internal mobility.    Considering the heterogeneity of these countries in terms of the capacity of the health system, demography and the degree at which the pandemic has taken hold, the homogeneity of the timing finds only a partial answer in the essential similarity of the situation, or in the willingness to take preventive action. The influence of the choices made by neighbouring countries