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Business Restrictions and COVID-19 Fatalities
[The immediate effect of COVID-19 policies on social distancing behavior in the United States]

Author

Listed:
  • Matthew Spiegel
  • Heather Tookes

Abstract

We collect a time-series database of business and related restrictions for every county in the United States from March through December 2020. We find strong evidence consistent with the idea that employee mask policies, mask mandates for the general population, restaurant and bar closures, gym closures, and high-risk business closures reduce future fatality growth. Other business restrictions, such as second-round closures of low- to medium-risk businesses and personal care/spa services, did not generate consistent evidence of lowered fatality growth and may have been counterproductive.

Suggested Citation

  • Matthew Spiegel & Heather Tookes, 2021. "Business Restrictions and COVID-19 Fatalities [The immediate effect of COVID-19 policies on social distancing behavior in the United States]," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 34(11), pages 5266-5308.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:rfinst:v:34:y:2021:i:11:p:5266-5308.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/rfs/hhab069
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    2. John M. Bizjak & Swaminathan L. Kalpathy & Vassil T. Mihov & Jue Ren, 2022. "CEO Political Leanings and Store‐Level Economic Activity during the COVID‐19 Crisis: Effects on Shareholder Value and Public Health," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 77(5), pages 2949-2986, October.
    3. Itay Goldstein & Ralph S J Koijen & Holger M Mueller, 2021. "COVID-19 and Its Impact on Financial Markets and the Real Economy [A model of endogenous risk intolerance and LSAPs: Asset prices and aggregate demand in a “COVID-19” shock]," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 34(11), pages 5135-5148.
    4. Michael D. Noel, 2022. "Competitive survival in a devastated industry: Evidence from hotels during COVID‐19," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(1), pages 3-24, February.
    5. Sangkwon Kim & Youngjin Hwang & Chaeyoung Lee & Soobin Kwak & Junseok Kim, 2023. "Estimation of Total Cost Required in Controlling COVID-19 Outbreaks by Financial Incentives," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(2), pages 1-15, January.
    6. Li, Pan & Chen, Kecai & Zhu, Xiaoneng, 2024. "Extreme Sentiment and Jumps in Analyst Forecast Dispersion," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 62(PA).
    7. Barrot, Jean-Noël & Bonelli, Maxime & Grassi, Basile & Sauvagnat, Julien, 2024. "Causal effects of closing businesses in a pandemic," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    8. Norden, Lars & Mesquita, Daniel & Wang, Weichao, 2021. "COVID-19, policy interventions and credit: The Brazilian experience," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 48(C).
    9. Chen, Meichen & Qin, Cong & Zhang, Xiaoyu, 2022. "Cryptocurrency price discrepancies under uncertainty: Evidence from COVID-19 and lockdown nexus," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    10. Ştefan Cristian Gherghina & Liliana Nicoleta Simionescu, 2023. "Exploring the asymmetric effect of COVID-19 pandemic news on the cryptocurrency market: evidence from nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag approach and frequency domain causality," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 9(1), pages 1-58, December.
    11. Zhou, Ye & Huang, Difang & Chen, Muzi & Wang, Yunlong & Yang, Xiaoguang, 2024. "How did small business respond to unexpected shocks? Evidence from a natural experiment in China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • H70 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - General
    • G38 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Government Policy and Regulation

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