A Cultural Network Approach for Amending Covid-19 Policy

17 Pages Posted: 2 Apr 2020

See all articles by Tim Hannigan

Tim Hannigan

University of Alberta - School of Business

Milo Shaoqing Wang

Arizona State University (ASU)

Christopher Steele

University of Alberta - Department of Strategic Management and Organization

Marc-David L. Seidel

UBC Sauder School of Business

Ed Cervantes

University of Alberta

P. Devereaux Jennings

University of Alberta - Department of Strategic Management and Organization

Date Written: March 31, 2020

Abstract

This papers develops four amendments to current COVID-19 public health policy using a cultural network approaches to community dynamics. As social scientists, we do not claim to be health experts or epidemiologists, but, based on our knowledge and the materials examined in this paper, we maintain that policymakers would benefit from:

1) interventions aimed at flattening the curve that take into account differences in social dynamics across communities by incorporating local social unit network interactions;

2) turning their attention to specific city and community dynamics to help them customize public health interventions;

3) looking downstream from the “hammer” phase to the “dance” phase of contagion to consider how interactions in and across communities may play into, or help undercut, the second wave; and

4) crafting directives and information provisions that take into account (and build off) both shared rumors and rational information search by social groups. We bolster these claims with a mix of historical examples from the Spanish Flu Epidemic, current case examples in the media on health portals concerning the COVID-19 Crisis, and a crude simulation of cultural network contagion, on which our group has begun work. We wish to share our evolving paper as early as possible in the hopes that some readers will find it useful and customize their own work – and policies – around COVID-19 accordingly.

Keywords: community networks, COVID-19, coronavirus, culture, policy

JEL Classification: Z18, M10, I18

Suggested Citation

Hannigan, Timothy and Wang, Milo Shaoqing and Steele, Christopher and Seidel, Marc-David L. and Cervantes, Ed and Jennings, P. Devereaux, A Cultural Network Approach for Amending Covid-19 Policy (March 31, 2020). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3566053 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3566053

Timothy Hannigan

University of Alberta - School of Business ( email )

2-43 Business Building
Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2C7
Canada

Milo Shaoqing Wang

Arizona State University (ASU)

Farmer Building 440G PO Box 872011
Tempe, AZ 85287
United States

Christopher Steele

University of Alberta - Department of Strategic Management and Organization ( email )

Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2R6
Canada
780-492-8289 (Phone)

Marc-David L. Seidel

UBC Sauder School of Business ( email )

University of British Columbia
2053 Main Mall
Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z2
Canada

HOME PAGE: http://www.sauder.ubc.ca/people/marc-david-l-seidel

Ed Cervantes

University of Alberta ( email )

Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2R3
Canada

P. Devereaux Jennings (Contact Author)

University of Alberta - Department of Strategic Management and Organization ( email )

Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2R6
Canada

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