Measuring the Economic Impact of COVID-19 with Real-Time Electricity Indicators

The COVID-19 pandemic is posing unprecedented challenges, making it difficult for policy makers to design appropriate policies. In this context, real-time information can play a most valuable role for policy makers in developing countries, particul...

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Main Author:	Vagliasindi, Maria
Format:	Working Paper
Language:	English
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2021
Subjects:	ELECTRICITY POWER SECTOR ELECTRICITY DEMAND CORONAVIRUS COVID-19 PANDEMIC IMPACT
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/undefined/851591634215208306/Measuring-the-Economic-Impact-of-COVID-19-with-Real-Time-Electricity-Indicators http://hdl.handle.net/10986/36424

id	okr-10986-36424
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	okr-10986-364242021-10-29T05:10:44Z Measuring the Economic Impact of COVID-19 with Real-Time Electricity Indicators Vagliasindi, Maria ELECTRICITY POWER SECTOR ELECTRICITY DEMAND CORONAVIRUS COVID-19 PANDEMIC IMPACT The COVID-19 pandemic is posing unprecedented challenges, making it difficult for policy makers to design appropriate policies. In this context, real-time information can play a most valuable role for policy makers in developing countries, particularly since official economic indicators, such as the evolution of GDP and unemployment, not only are released with considerable delays, but also are not always fully reliable. This paper follows the literature by using the dependent variable electricity consumption per capita as a proxy measure of economic activity in the short run. Based on this method, it examines the short-run economic impact of the pandemic itself, as well as the public health restrictions that were adopted to control the outbreak and the macro-economic measures applied to revive the economy. The analysis confirms the significant cost of lockdown measures in terms of reduction in economic activity but finds that the spread of the disease itself had an economic impact distinct from that of the lockdown measures. The analysis shows that the use of expansionary fiscal and monetary policies also played a key role in mitigating such an impact, driving some initial recovery. Finally, the evidence points to a complete structural break in economic activity at the onset of the lockdown period. 2021-10-28T13:29:00Z 2021-10-28T13:29:00Z 2021-10 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/undefined/851591634215208306/Measuring-the-Economic-Impact-of-COVID-19-with-Real-Time-Electricity-Indicators http://hdl.handle.net/10986/36424 English Policy Research Working Paper;No. 9806 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
language	English
topic	ELECTRICITY POWER SECTOR ELECTRICITY DEMAND CORONAVIRUS COVID-19 PANDEMIC IMPACT
spellingShingle	ELECTRICITY POWER SECTOR ELECTRICITY DEMAND CORONAVIRUS COVID-19 PANDEMIC IMPACT Vagliasindi, Maria Measuring the Economic Impact of COVID-19 with Real-Time Electricity Indicators
relation	Policy Research Working Paper;No. 9806
description	The COVID-19 pandemic is posing unprecedented challenges, making it difficult for policy makers to design appropriate policies. In this context, real-time information can play a most valuable role for policy makers in developing countries, particularly since official economic indicators, such as the evolution of GDP and unemployment, not only are released with considerable delays, but also are not always fully reliable. This paper follows the literature by using the dependent variable electricity consumption per capita as a proxy measure of economic activity in the short run. Based on this method, it examines the short-run economic impact of the pandemic itself, as well as the public health restrictions that were adopted to control the outbreak and the macro-economic measures applied to revive the economy. The analysis confirms the significant cost of lockdown measures in terms of reduction in economic activity but finds that the spread of the disease itself had an economic impact distinct from that of the lockdown measures. The analysis shows that the use of expansionary fiscal and monetary policies also played a key role in mitigating such an impact, driving some initial recovery. Finally, the evidence points to a complete structural break in economic activity at the onset of the lockdown period.
format	Working Paper
author	Vagliasindi, Maria
author_facet	Vagliasindi, Maria
author_sort	Vagliasindi, Maria
title	Measuring the Economic Impact of COVID-19 with Real-Time Electricity Indicators
title_short	Measuring the Economic Impact of COVID-19 with Real-Time Electricity Indicators
title_full	Measuring the Economic Impact of COVID-19 with Real-Time Electricity Indicators
title_fullStr	Measuring the Economic Impact of COVID-19 with Real-Time Electricity Indicators
title_full_unstemmed	Measuring the Economic Impact of COVID-19 with Real-Time Electricity Indicators
title_sort	measuring the economic impact of covid-19 with real-time electricity indicators
publisher	World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate	2021
url	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/undefined/851591634215208306/Measuring-the-Economic-Impact-of-COVID-19-with-Real-Time-Electricity-Indicators http://hdl.handle.net/10986/36424
_version_	1764485221422465024

Measuring the Economic Impact of COVID-19 with Real-Time Electricity Indicators

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