COVID-19 and Unequal Social Distancing across Demographic Groups
One sentence summary: Blacks and Hispanics, as well as lower-income and lower-educated people, were able to experience relatively less social distancing amid COVID-19.
The corresponding academic paper by Hakan Yilmazkuday has been accepted for publication at Regional Science, Policy and Practice.
The corresponding working paper is available here.
Abstract
This paper analyzes whether social distancing experienced by alternative demographic groups within the U.S. has been different amid COVID-19. The formal investigation is achieved by using daily state-level mobility data from the U.S. covering information on the demographic categories of income, education and race/ethnicity. The results show that social distancing have been experienced more by higher-income, higher-educated or Asian people after the declaration of National Emergency on March 13th, 2020. Since alternative demographic groups were subject to alternative employment opportunities during this period (e.g., due to being able to work from home), redistributive effects of COVID-19 are implied that require demographic-group specific policies.
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been declared as a pandemic by the World Health Organization on March 11th, 2020, whereas the U.S. has declared National Emergency about it on March 13th, 2020. Accordingly, several governments around the world have implemented stay-at-home orders as COVID-19 spreads mainly through person-to-person contact. Although some of these orders were based on demographic characteristics such as age groups due to the way that COVID-19 affects people of alternative ages, in practice, knowledge and attitudes have been different across other demographic characteristics such as income, education, race, ethnicity, gender, occupation, population, and place of current residence. Since economic activity is highly related to mobility, these developments imply potential redistributive effects of COVID-19 across demographic groups that require the attention of policy makers.
Based on this motivation, this paper analyzes how alternative demographic groups have experienced social distancing with the U.S. amid COVID-19. Daily state-level mobility data for social interactions covering the period between January 21th, 2020 and June 26th, 2020 are utilized for alternative demographic categories of income, education and race/ethnicity. The descriptive statistics for the median U.S. state suggest that social distancing have been experienced more by higher-income, higher-educated or Asian people after the declaration of National Emergency on March 13th, 2020. This observation is mostly due to these groups having relatively higher levels of social interaction (with respect to other groups) before the declaration of National Emergency, because all groups have experienced similar levels of social interaction after the declaration.
Since the descriptive statistics for the median U.S. state do not control for any state-specific development such as state-level policies or the health system of the state that may change over time, a formal investigation is also achieved by using a panel regression analysis. The objective of this regression is to capture how different demographic groups have achieved social distancing after controlling for factors that are state-time specific (e.g., state-level policies on certain days) or group-state specific (e.g., higher-income individuals in certain states socially interacting differently from other higher-income individuals in other states).
The results of the formal investigation support the descriptive statistics by showing that social distancing has been experienced more by higher-income, higher-educated or Asian people compared to other demographic groups after the declaration of National Emergency. In particular, the social distancing experienced by the highest-income group after the declaration of National Emergency has been about 31% and 32% more than the first and the second income quartiles, respectively, and 25% more than the third income quartile. The social distancing experienced by the highest-education group after the declaration of National Emergency has been about 53% more than the first education quartile, 46% more than the second education quartile, and 34% more than the third education quartile. The social distancing experienced by the Asian race after the declaration of National Emergency has been about 20% more than blacks and Hispanics, and 18% more than whites.
Important policy implications follow, especially when it is considered that higher-educated, higher-income or Asian people were able to work at home and maintain employment during COVID-19 due to their occupations, whereas lower-educated workers, blacks or Hispanics were not able to work at home due to their occupations and thus became unemployed. In particular, although higher-income, higher-educated or Asian people have experienced higher social distancing after the declaration of National Emergency, since social interaction levels are similar across demographic groups after the declaration, redistributive effects of COVID-19 are implied due to different demographic groups being or not being able to work at home. Accordingly, demographic-group specific policies are required to reduce not only the overall economic impact of COVID-19 but also the corresponding inequality across demographic groups.
The corresponding academic paper by Hakan Yilmazkuday has been accepted for publication at Regional Science, Policy and Practice.
The corresponding working paper is available here.
Based on this motivation, this paper analyzes how alternative demographic groups have experienced social distancing with the U.S. amid COVID-19. Daily state-level mobility data for social interactions covering the period between January 21th, 2020 and June 26th, 2020 are utilized for alternative demographic categories of income, education and race/ethnicity. The descriptive statistics for the median U.S. state suggest that social distancing have been experienced more by higher-income, higher-educated or Asian people after the declaration of National Emergency on March 13th, 2020. This observation is mostly due to these groups having relatively higher levels of social interaction (with respect to other groups) before the declaration of National Emergency, because all groups have experienced similar levels of social interaction after the declaration.
Since the descriptive statistics for the median U.S. state do not control for any state-specific development such as state-level policies or the health system of the state that may change over time, a formal investigation is also achieved by using a panel regression analysis. The objective of this regression is to capture how different demographic groups have achieved social distancing after controlling for factors that are state-time specific (e.g., state-level policies on certain days) or group-state specific (e.g., higher-income individuals in certain states socially interacting differently from other higher-income individuals in other states).
The results of the formal investigation support the descriptive statistics by showing that social distancing has been experienced more by higher-income, higher-educated or Asian people compared to other demographic groups after the declaration of National Emergency. In particular, the social distancing experienced by the highest-income group after the declaration of National Emergency has been about 31% and 32% more than the first and the second income quartiles, respectively, and 25% more than the third income quartile. The social distancing experienced by the highest-education group after the declaration of National Emergency has been about 53% more than the first education quartile, 46% more than the second education quartile, and 34% more than the third education quartile. The social distancing experienced by the Asian race after the declaration of National Emergency has been about 20% more than blacks and Hispanics, and 18% more than whites.
Important policy implications follow, especially when it is considered that higher-educated, higher-income or Asian people were able to work at home and maintain employment during COVID-19 due to their occupations, whereas lower-educated workers, blacks or Hispanics were not able to work at home due to their occupations and thus became unemployed. In particular, although higher-income, higher-educated or Asian people have experienced higher social distancing after the declaration of National Emergency, since social interaction levels are similar across demographic groups after the declaration, redistributive effects of COVID-19 are implied due to different demographic groups being or not being able to work at home. Accordingly, demographic-group specific policies are required to reduce not only the overall economic impact of COVID-19 but also the corresponding inequality across demographic groups.
The corresponding academic paper by Hakan Yilmazkuday has been accepted for publication at Regional Science, Policy and Practice.
The corresponding working paper is available here.