The Impact of Covid-19 on Household Welfare in the Comoros : The Experience of a Small Island Developing State
This paper investigates the causal impact of a Covid-19 lockdown policy on the Comoros's household welfare, poverty, and labor market outcomes. The identification strategy uses the national government lockdown policy implemented to curtail the...
| Main Authors: | , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Washington, DC: World Bank
2022
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/349051646942786069/The-Impact-of-Covid-19-on-Household-Welfare-in-the-Comoros-The-Experience-of-a-Small-Island-Developing-State http://hdl.handle.net/10986/37153 |
| Summary: | This paper investigates the causal
impact of a Covid-19 lockdown policy on the Comoros's
household welfare, poverty, and labor market outcomes. The
identification strategy uses the national government
lockdown policy implemented to curtail the unexpected
outbreak of Covid-19. The lockdown policy coincided with the
2020 Harmonized Survey on Living Conditions of Households
data collection, lending itself to a quasi-natural
experiment in which households that were interviewed before
the lockdown policy fall into the control group, while those
that were interviewed after the lockdown fall into the
treated group. The paper explores the impact of the Covid-19
using descriptive regression analysis and estimates the
causal impact using matching techniques. The analysis finds
a reduction in household expenditure, increased poverty, and
a reduction in the likelihood of employment. Investigation
of differential impacts along the expenditure distribution
finds larger impacts at the top of the distribution,
suggesting that Covid-19 may have reduced inequality,
although the poor were also negatively affected. The
evidence also suggests that the ability to use assets as a
coping mechanism was limited. In a context of limited safety
nets and government interventions, stringent lockdown
policies appear to increase the vulnerability of the poor. |
|---|