We also use data on excess mortality to construct a proxy of underreporting, which is negatively correlated with both democracy and state capacity. Autocracies and low-capacity states dramatically under-reported the number of deaths. 8/

Instead of officially reported COVID-19 deaths, we use an estimate of excess mortality from a fantastic new dataset by
the Economist. This measure is actually (slightly) negatively correlated with democracy. 7/

Then again, democracy was positively correlated with the number of COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants, if we use on official statistics reported by governments. 5/