Full Citation
Title: Heterogenity in Damages from a Pandemic
Citation Type: Working Paper
Publication Year: 2022
ISBN:
ISSN:
DOI:
NSFID:
PMCID:
PMID:
Abstract: We use linked survey and administrative data to document and decompose the striking differences across demographic groups in both economic and health impacts of the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. The impacts of the pandemic on all-cause mortality and on employment were concentrated in the same racial, ethnic, and education groups, with non-White individuals and those without a college degree experiencing higher excess all-cause mortality as well as a greater employment loss. Observable differences in living arrangements and the nature of work-which likely affected exposure to the virus and to economic contractions-can explain 15 percent of the Hispanic-White difference in excess mortality, almost one-quarter of the non-Hispanic Black-White difference, and almost half of the difference between those with and without a Bachelor's degree; they can also explain 35 to 40 percent of the differences in economic damages between these groups. These findings underscore the importance of non-medical factors in contributing to the disparate impacts of public health shocks.
Url: https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w30658/w30658.pdf
User Submitted?: No
Authors: Finkelstein, Amy; Kocks, Geoffrey; Polyakova, Maria; Udalova, Victoria
Series Title: NBER Working Paper Series
Publication Number: 30658
Institution: National Bureau of Economic Research
Pages: 1-76
Publisher Location:
Data Collections: IPUMS CPS
Topics: Health
Countries: