Unequal Welfare Costs of Staying at Home across Socioeconomic and Demographic Groups
International Journal of Urban Sciences, Forthcoming
32 Pages Posted: 18 Jan 2021 Last revised: 30 Jun 2021
Date Written: June 24, 2021
Abstract
Using daily census block group level data from the U.S., this paper investigates the welfare costs of staying at home due to COVID-19 across socioeconomic and demographic groups. The investigation is based on an economic model of which implications suggest that the welfare costs of staying at home increase with the stay-at-home probabilities of individuals. The empirical results provide evidence for significant heterogeneity across census block groups regarding the welfare effects of staying at home. This heterogeneity is further used to obtain measures of welfare changes for different socioeconomic and demographic groups at the national level.
Keywords: COVID-19, Coronavirus, Staying at Home, Welfare, Demographics
JEL Classification: I14, I31, R11, R13
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation