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Measuring Pandemic and Lockdown Impacts on Wellbeing

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  • Arthur Grimes

Abstract

With the onset of the COVID‐19 pandemic, New Zealand's official statistical agency (Stats NZ) moved quickly to supplement the quarterly Household Labour Force Survey with wellbeing measures from the General Social Survey. The first supplement (June 2020) began toward the end of a restrictive national lockdown. Subsequent quarterly surveys continued through a second lockdown for the Auckland region, enabling tests of regional lockdown impacts. Survey measures include questions on life satisfaction, health, income adequacy, social capital (trust), and loneliness. Published aggregated data indicate that life satisfaction, social capital, health, and financial wellbeing were each higher through the pandemic (in 2020) than prior to it, including for disadvantaged groups, but loneliness rose. Analysis of the individual‐level data, confined to the within‐pandemic period, however indicates that more restrictive lockdowns were associated both with reduced life satisfaction and greater loneliness, with differing impacts according to labor market and household status.

Suggested Citation

  • Arthur Grimes, 2022. "Measuring Pandemic and Lockdown Impacts on Wellbeing," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 68(2), pages 409-427, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:revinw:v:68:y:2022:i:2:p:409-427
    DOI: 10.1111/roiw.12585
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Patrick Barrett & Jacques Poot, 2023. "Islands, remoteness and effective policy making: Aotearoa New Zealand during the COVID‐19 pandemic," Regional Science Policy & Practice, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(3), pages 682-704, April.
    2. Kong, Nancy & Lam, Jack, 2024. "Physical isolation and loneliness: Evidence from COVID lock-downs in Australia," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 224(C), pages 598-623.
    3. Martijn J. Burger & Ruut Veenhoven, 2023. "Editorial: Special Issue on Subjective Well-being and Mental Health in the Early Days of COVID-19," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 18(1), pages 1-8, February.
    4. Krzysztof Drachal & Daniel González Cortés, 2022. "Estimation of Lockdowns’ Impact on Well-Being in Selected Countries: An Application of Novel Bayesian Methods and Google Search Queries Data," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(1), pages 1-24, December.

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