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dc.titleThe Unequal Burden of the Pandemic: Why the Fallout of Covid-19 Hits the Poor the Hardest
dc.contributor.authorBottan, Nicolas L.
dc.contributor.authorHoffmann, Bridget
dc.contributor.authorVera-Cossio, Diego A.
dc.contributor.orgunitDepartment of Research and Chief Economist
dc.coverageLatin America and the Caribbean
dc.date.available2020-11-10T00:00:00
dc.date.issue2020-11-10T00:00:00
dc.description.abstractThe current coronavirus pandemic is an unprecedented public health challenge that has devastating economic impacts for households. Using a sample of 230,540 respondents to online surveys in 17 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, we show that the economic impacts are large and unequal: 45% of respondents report that a household member lost a job, and among households owning small businesses, 59% of respondents report that a household member closed their business. Among households with the lowest income prior to the pandemic, 71% report that a household member lost their job and 61% report that a household member closed their business. Declines in food security and healthiness are among the disproportionate impacts. Our results provide evidence that the current public health crisis will exacerbate economic inequality, and they are among the rst estimates of the labor market and wellbeing impacts of the pandemic in developing countries.
dc.format.extent58
dc.identifier.doihttp://dx.doi.org/10.18235/0002834
dc.identifier.urlhttps://publications.iadb.org/publications/english/document/The-Unequal-Burden-of-the-Pandemic-Why-the-Fallout-of-Covid-19-Hits-the-Poor-the-Hardest.pdf
dc.identifier.urlhttps://publications.iadb.org/publications/spanish/document/La-desigual-carga-de-la-pandemia-Por-que-las-consecuencias-de-la-COVID-19-afectan-mas-a-los-pobres.pdf
dc.language.isoen
dc.mediumAdobe PDF
dc.publisherInter-American Development Bank
dc.subjectMinimum Wage
dc.subjectPoverty
dc.subjectIncome Distribution
dc.subjectLabor Market
dc.subjectHousehold Survey
dc.subjectCoronavirus
dc.subjectPandemics
dc.subjectHousehold Income
dc.subjectIncome Equality
dc.subjectEquality
dc.subject.jelcodeI31 - General Welfare, Well-Being
dc.subject.jelcodeE24 - Employment • Unemployment • Wages • Intergenerational Income Distribution • Aggregate Human Capital • Aggregate Labor Productivity
dc.subject.jelcodeD31 - Personal Income, Wealth, and Their Distributions
dc.subject.jelcodeI32 - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
dc.subject.jelcodeH12 - Crisis Management
dc.subject.jelcodeE21 - Consumption • Saving • Wealth
dc.subject.jelcodeG51 - Household Saving, Borrowing, Debt, and Wealth
dc.subject.keywordsLabor markets;Inequality;Coronavirus;Public Health
dc.typeMonographs
idb.identifier.pubnumberIDB-MG-00834
idb.operationRG-E1700
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