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The Income and Consumption Effects of COVID‐19 and the Role of Public Policy

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  • Suphanit Piyapromdee
  • Peter Spittal

Abstract

We provide empirical evidence on the labour market impacts of COVID‐19 in the UK and assess the effectiveness of mitigation policies. We estimate the relationship between employment outcomes and occupational and industrial characteristics and assess the effects on consumption. Seventy per cent of households in the bottom fifth of the earnings distribution hold insufficient assets to maintain current spending for more than one week. We compare the effectiveness of the UK's Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and of Economic Impact Payments in the US. The EIPs are more effective at mitigating consumption reductions as they have full coverage, depend on household structure and are higher for low‐income workers.

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  • Suphanit Piyapromdee & Peter Spittal, 2020. "The Income and Consumption Effects of COVID‐19 and the Role of Public Policy," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 41(4), pages 805-827, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:fistud:v:41:y:2020:i:4:p:805-827
    DOI: 10.1111/1475-5890.12252
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    1. Irene Y. H. Ng & Zhi Han Tan & Vincent Chua & Annie Cheong, 2022. "Separate Lives, Uncertain Futures: Does Covid-19 Align or Differentiate the Lives of Low- and Higher-Wage Young Workers?," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 17(6), pages 3349-3380, December.
    2. Monica Costa Dias & Ella Johnson-Watts & Robert Joyce & Fabien Postel-Vinay & Peter Spittal & Xiaowei Xu, 2021. "Worker Mobility and Labour Market Opportunities," Bristol Economics Discussion Papers 21/753, School of Economics, University of Bristol, UK.
    3. Jung, Haeil & Kim, Jun Hyung & Hong, Gihyeon, 2023. "Impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on single-person households in South Korea," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    4. Barbara Baarsma & Jesse Groenewegen, 2021. "COVID-19 and the Demand for Online Grocery Shopping: Empirical Evidence from the Netherlands," De Economist, Springer, vol. 169(4), pages 407-421, November.
    5. Stefanie Stantcheva, 2022. "Inequalities in the times of a pandemic," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 37(109), pages 5-41.
    6. Abi Adams‐Prassl & Teodora Boneva & Marta Golin & Christopher Rauh, 2020. "Furloughing," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 41(3), pages 591-622, September.
    7. Hodbod, Alexander & Hommes, Cars & Huber, Stefanie J. & Salle, Isabelle, 2021. "The COVID-19 consumption game-changer: Evidence from a large-scale multi-country survey," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    8. Olive Umuhire Nsababera & Vibhuti Mendiratta & Hannah Sam, 2023. "The Impact of COVID-19 on Household Welfare in the Comoros: The Experience of a Small Island Developing State," Global Perspectives on Wealth and Distribution, in: Shirley Johnson-Lans (ed.), The Coronavirus Pandemic and Inequality, chapter 0, pages 141-195, Palgrave Macmillan.
    9. Julita Szlachciuk & Olena Kulykovets & Maciej Dębski & Adriana Krawczyk & Hanna Górska-Warsewicz, 2022. "The Shopping Behavior of International Students in Poland during COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(18), pages 1-19, September.
    10. Pham, Duong Phuong Thao & Huynh, Ngoc Quang Anh & Duong, Duy, 2022. "The impact of US presidents on market returns: Evidence from Trump's tweets," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    11. Catarina Midões & Mateo Seré, 2022. "Living with Reduced Income: An Analysis of Household Financial Vulnerability Under COVID-19," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 161(1), pages 125-149, May.
    12. Liang, Xiao & Rozelle, Scott & Yi, Hongmei, 2022. "The impact of COVID-19 on employment and income of vocational graduates in China: Evidence from surveys in January and July 2020," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    13. Ayesha Tantriana, 2024. "Poverty and vulnerability transitions in Indonesia before and during the COVID-19: insights from synthetic panels," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 58(4), pages 3215-3249, August.
    14. Egor Malkov, 2021. "Spousal Occupational Sorting and COVID-19 Incidence: Evidence from the United States," Papers 2107.14350, arXiv.org, revised Sep 2021.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J38 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Public Policy
    • E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth
    • D14 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Saving; Personal Finance

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