Patriarchy, pandemics, and the gendered resource curse thesis: Evidence from petroleum geology

This study examines features shared by societies built around petroleum and the impact of COVID-19. For our cross-sectional analysis, we use epidemiological data on COVID-19, country-level long-run oil production data, and data on petroleum geology for econometric identification. We first document that a country's long-run oil production is associated with significantly higher COVID-19 deaths. Exploring mechanisms, we find that women's election into political offices reduces the risk from COVID-19, but only in oil-poor countries. Furthermore, we find robust evidence that petroleum wealth reduces the percentage of women in parliament. These findings highlight the risk and plausible mechanisms of COVID-19 vulnerability in oil-exporting countries. Policymakers should be aware of these effects.