Cyber-infrastructure and epidemic precautionary policy: evidence from China

INTRODUCTION: The application of technology supported by cyber infrastructure has emerged as a critical factor influencing city management. This study aims to investigate whether the development of cyber infrastructure can enhance cities’ confidence in responding to potential epidemic threats in the context of COVID-19. METHODS: China serves as a good example for both COVID-19 management and smart city construction. We take advantage of a special time point, the 2022 Chinese New Year, to observe cities’ precautionary epidemic policies. We utilize choice models and data from 188 Chinese cities to examine the impact of internet coverage on the degree of policy relaxation. RESULTS: We found that cities with higher internet coverage tend to adopt looser policies. In the benchmark regression, for every 1 percentage point increase in internet coverage, the likelihood of implementing loose measures increases by 0.9 percentage points. This result remains robust across different classifications of policies. We also addressed potential endogeneity issues by using the instrumental variables method. DISCUSSION: Our study indicates that effective management of epidemics in the modern era requires not only the utilization of traditional medical resources but also the incorporation of new city features, such as information technology infrastructure.