The Costs of Staying Healthy : COVID-19 in LAC

COVID-19 closures in Latin American and the Caribbean countries helped to curb the spread of the virus, but inevitably brought negative consequences for households, principally in the form of job losses, income reduction, and, in some cases, food i...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Ballon, Paola, Mejia-Mantilla, Carolina, Olivieri, Sergio, Lara Ibarra, Gabriel, Romero, Javier
Format: Policy Note
Language:English
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2021
Subjects:
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/191941621236303434/Lives-or-Livelihoods-The-Costs-of-Staying-Healthy-COVID-19-in-LAC
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/35623
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Summary:COVID-19 closures in Latin American and the Caribbean countries helped to curb the spread of the virus, but inevitably brought negative consequences for households, principally in the form of job losses, income reduction, and, in some cases, food insecurity. Future policy measures should aim to strike the right balance between saving lives and protecting livelihoods. Where closures are necessary, they should be adapted to a country's labor market and other localized conditions so as to minimize profound welfare losses. Governments should strive for robust and agile social safety net systems to be able to respond to the sudden falls in household welfare.