The argument is compelling but flawed when you treat Europe as one big homogenous socialist experiment. Heavily conservative countries like Hungary and Poland were quick to react, locked down efficiently and will invariably bounce back. Left-wing Sweden didn’t lock down and will probably pay the price comparatively with it’s neighbours.

As you’ve pointed out, the Asian countries also don’t fit in line with your theory either, which means it has less to do with the political system they live in and far more to with individualism and personal responsibility of the populations.

It doesn’t matter what Government you have, what matters is that the Government was able to mobilise effectively and convince their population to behave in a responsible way. The more socially liberal a country (Western Europe and USA), the harder it is to enforce total lock down in the short term — the more conservative (economically minded) the country, the harder it is to enforce a lockdown in the long term.

The USA is the perfect storm of individualistic and fiscally conservative. Add the bill of rights, elect a moron, and give everyone guns and you’ve got yourself the perfect storm for how to collapse an economy (and then a democracy).