Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/234718 
Year of Publication: 
2020
Series/Report no.: 
IDB Working Paper Series No. IDB-WP-1150
Publisher: 
Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Washington, DC
Abstract: 
The 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.
Subjects: 
Coronaviruspandemic
Public health
Labormarkets
Inequality
JEL: 
I14
D14
I18
I32
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by-nc-nd Logo
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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