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COVID Social Distancing and the Poor: An Analysis of the Evidence for England

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  • Basu Parantap

    (Durham University Business School, Durham, UK)

  • Bell Clive

    (Universität Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany)

  • Edwards Terence Huw

    (School of Business and Economics, Loughborough University, Loughborough, UK)

Abstract

Social distancing is a matter of individuals’ choices as well as of regulation. We analyse weekly panel data on such behaviour for English Upper Tier Local Authorities (UTLAs) from March to July 2020, paying attention to the influence of poverty, as measured by free school meals provision. Panel regressions suggest that, although more stringent regulation and slightly lagged local cases of infection increase social distancing, both effects are weaker in UTLAs with higher levels of poverty, in part because of poor housing, and also because shortage of money has forced the poor to keep working. Thus motivated, we develop a two-class (rich/poor) model, in which a Nash non-cooperative equilibrium arises from individual choices in a regulatory regime with penalties for non-compliance. The model yields results in keeping with the empirical findings, indicating the desirability of generous measures to furlough workers in low-paid jobs as a complement to the stringency of general regulation.

Suggested Citation

  • Basu Parantap & Bell Clive & Edwards Terence Huw, 2022. "COVID Social Distancing and the Poor: An Analysis of the Evidence for England," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 22(1), pages 211-240, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:bpj:bejmac:v:22:y:2022:i:1:p:211-240:n:1
    DOI: 10.1515/bejm-2020-0250
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    Cited by:

    1. Theologos Dergiades & Costas Milas & Elias Mossialos & Theodore Panagiotidis, 2021. "Effectiveness of Government Policies in Response to the COVID-19 Outbreak," Discussion Paper Series 2021_05, Department of Economics, University of Macedonia, revised Feb 2021.
    2. Lili Li & Araz Taeihagh & Si Ying Tan, 2023. "A scoping review of the impacts of COVID-19 physical distancing measures on vulnerable population groups," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-19, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    COVID19; policy stringency; poverty; social distancing;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models
    • H00 - Public Economics - - General - - - General
    • I00 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - General - - - General
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • I14 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Inequality
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health

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