Working Paper: NBER ID: w30658
Authors: Amy Finkelstein; Geoffrey Kocks; Maria Polyakova; Victoria Udalova
Abstract: We use linked survey and administrative data to document and decompose the striking differences across demographic groups in both economic and health impacts of the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. The impacts of the pandemic on all-cause mortality and on employment were concentrated in the same racial, ethnic, and education groups, with non-White individuals and those without a college degree experiencing higher excess all-cause mortality as well as a greater employment loss. Observable differences in living arrangements and the nature of work – which likely affected exposure to the virus and to economic contractions – can explain 15 percent of the Hispanic-White difference in excess mortality, almost one-quarter of the non- Hispanic Black-White difference, and almost half of the difference between those with and without a Bachelor’s degree; they can also explain 35 to 40 percent of the differences in economic damages between these groups. These findings underscore the importance of non-medical factors in contributing to the disparate impacts of public health shocks.
Keywords: COVID-19; health impacts; economic impacts; demographic disparities
JEL Codes: I0
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| nonwhite individuals (J15) | higher excess all-cause mortality (I12) |
| nonwhite individuals (J15) | greater employment loss (J65) |
| observable differences in living arrangements and work nature (J29) | disparities in excess mortality (I14) |
| observable differences in living arrangements and work nature (J29) | disparities in economic damages (K13) |
| demographic factors (J11) | exposure to pandemic's impacts (F69) |