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Mitigating the impact of the pandemic on personal finances in CESEE: descriptive evidence for 2020

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Abstract

This study describes the economic consequences the COVID-19 pandemic had on people in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe until October 2020. We use data from an annual survey of individuals in ten different countries. Specifically, we employ a special module from the OeNB Euro Survey in 2020 to assess what kind of measures individuals took to mitigate negative effects of the pandemic and how this relates to income shocks. Reducing expenditure was by far the most common measure, followed by reducing savings, informal support and borrowing against future income. Only very few respondents stated that they had been forced to move. Descriptive results seem to suggest that experiencing income shocks and being financially vulnerable are related to taking significantly more mitigating measures and, hence, that the mere number of different measures taken can be a proxy for how severely an individual is affected by the pandemic. However, taking more measures can also be related to having more options to actually smooth out negative effects. Therefore, classifying those who report a larger number of different mitigating measures as more vulnerable without taking other socioeconomic characteristics into account can be misleading.

Suggested Citation

  • Melanie Koch & Thomas Scheiber, 2022. "Mitigating the impact of the pandemic on personal finances in CESEE: descriptive evidence for 2020," Focus on European Economic Integration, Oesterreichische Nationalbank (Austrian Central Bank), issue Q2/22, pages 63-96.
    • Handle: RePEc:onb:oenbfi:y:2022:i:q2/22:b:1
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    household finance; COVID-19; survey data; Central; Eastern and Southeastern Europe;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D14 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Saving; Personal Finance
    • G50 - Financial Economics - - Household Finance - - - General

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