The Sooner, the Better : The Early Economic Impact of Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The size of the economic shocks triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic and the effects of the associated non-pharmaceutical interventions have not been fully assessed, because the official economic indicators have not been published. This paper provide...

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Main Authors: Demirguc-Kunt, Asli, Lokshin, Michael, Torre, Ivan
Format: Working Paper
Language:English
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2020
Subjects:
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/636851590495700748/The-Sooner-the-Better-The-Early-Economic-Impact-of-Non-Pharmaceutical-Interventions-during-the-COVID-19-Pandemic
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/33820
id okr-10986-33820
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-338202022-09-20T00:11:52Z The Sooner, the Better : The Early Economic Impact of Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions during the COVID-19 Pandemic Demirguc-Kunt, Asli Lokshin, Michael Torre, Ivan CORONAVIRUS COVID-19 PANDEMIC RESPONSE ECONOMIC IMPACT ECONOMIC INTERVENTION ECONOMIC DISRUPTION ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION NITROGEN DIOXIDE EMISSION MOBILITY ECONOMIC ACTIVITY The size of the economic shocks triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic and the effects of the associated non-pharmaceutical interventions have not been fully assessed, because the official economic indicators have not been published. This paper provides estimates of the economic impacts of the non-pharmaceutical interventions implemented by countries in Europe and Central Asia over the initial stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. The analysis relies on high-frequency proxies, such as daily electricity consumption, nitrogen dioxide emission, and mobility records, to trace the economic disruptions caused by the pandemic, and calibrates these measures to estimate magnitude of the economic impact. The results suggest that the non-pharmaceutical interventions led to about a decline of about 10 percent in economic activity across the region. On average, countries that implemented non-pharmaceutical interventions in the early stages of the pandemic appear to have better short-term economic outcomes and lower cumulative mortality, compared with countries that imposed non-pharmaceutical interventions during the later stages of the pandemic. In part, this is because the interventions have been less stringent. Moreover, there is evidence that COVID-19 mortality at the peak of the local outbreak has been lower in countries that acted earlier. In this sense, the results suggest that the sooner non-pharmaceutical interventions are implemented, the better are the economic and health outcomes. 2020-05-28T15:54:34Z 2020-05-28T15:54:34Z 2020-05 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/636851590495700748/The-Sooner-the-Better-The-Early-Economic-Impact-of-Non-Pharmaceutical-Interventions-during-the-COVID-19-Pandemic http://hdl.handle.net/10986/33820 English Policy Research Working Paper;No. 9257 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper Europe and Central Asia Central Asia Eastern Europe Europe and Central Asia
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
topic CORONAVIRUS
COVID-19
PANDEMIC RESPONSE
ECONOMIC IMPACT
ECONOMIC INTERVENTION
ECONOMIC DISRUPTION
ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION
NITROGEN DIOXIDE EMISSION
MOBILITY
ECONOMIC ACTIVITY
spellingShingle CORONAVIRUS
COVID-19
PANDEMIC RESPONSE
ECONOMIC IMPACT
ECONOMIC INTERVENTION
ECONOMIC DISRUPTION
ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION
NITROGEN DIOXIDE EMISSION
MOBILITY
ECONOMIC ACTIVITY
Demirguc-Kunt, Asli
Lokshin, Michael
Torre, Ivan
The Sooner, the Better : The Early Economic Impact of Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions during the COVID-19 Pandemic
geographic_facet Europe and Central Asia
Central Asia
Eastern Europe
Europe and Central Asia
relation Policy Research Working Paper;No. 9257
description The size of the economic shocks triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic and the effects of the associated non-pharmaceutical interventions have not been fully assessed, because the official economic indicators have not been published. This paper provides estimates of the economic impacts of the non-pharmaceutical interventions implemented by countries in Europe and Central Asia over the initial stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. The analysis relies on high-frequency proxies, such as daily electricity consumption, nitrogen dioxide emission, and mobility records, to trace the economic disruptions caused by the pandemic, and calibrates these measures to estimate magnitude of the economic impact. The results suggest that the non-pharmaceutical interventions led to about a decline of about 10 percent in economic activity across the region. On average, countries that implemented non-pharmaceutical interventions in the early stages of the pandemic appear to have better short-term economic outcomes and lower cumulative mortality, compared with countries that imposed non-pharmaceutical interventions during the later stages of the pandemic. In part, this is because the interventions have been less stringent. Moreover, there is evidence that COVID-19 mortality at the peak of the local outbreak has been lower in countries that acted earlier. In this sense, the results suggest that the sooner non-pharmaceutical interventions are implemented, the better are the economic and health outcomes.
format Working Paper
author Demirguc-Kunt, Asli
Lokshin, Michael
Torre, Ivan
author_facet Demirguc-Kunt, Asli
Lokshin, Michael
Torre, Ivan
author_sort Demirguc-Kunt, Asli
title The Sooner, the Better : The Early Economic Impact of Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions during the COVID-19 Pandemic
title_short The Sooner, the Better : The Early Economic Impact of Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions during the COVID-19 Pandemic
title_full The Sooner, the Better : The Early Economic Impact of Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions during the COVID-19 Pandemic
title_fullStr The Sooner, the Better : The Early Economic Impact of Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions during the COVID-19 Pandemic
title_full_unstemmed The Sooner, the Better : The Early Economic Impact of Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions during the COVID-19 Pandemic
title_sort sooner, the better : the early economic impact of non-pharmaceutical interventions during the covid-19 pandemic
publisher World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate 2020
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/636851590495700748/The-Sooner-the-Better-The-Early-Economic-Impact-of-Non-Pharmaceutical-Interventions-during-the-COVID-19-Pandemic
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/33820
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