Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/246303 
Year of Publication: 
2020
Series/Report no.: 
Working Paper No. 2013
Version Description: 
This version July 29, 2020
Publisher: 
Johannes Kepler University of Linz, Department of Economics, Linz
Abstract: 
Social distancing is important to slow the community spread of infectious disease, but it creates enormous economic and social cost. Thus, it is important to quantify the benefits of different measures. We study the ban of mass gatherings, an intervention with comparably low cost. We exploit exogenous spatial and temporal variation in NBA and NHL games - which arise due to the leagues' predetermined schedules - and the suspension of the 2019-20 seasons. This allows us to estimate the impact of indoor mass gatherings on COVID-19 mortality in affected US counties. One additional mass gathering increased the cumulative number of COVID-19 deaths in affected counties by 9 percent.
Subjects: 
Social distancing
mass gatherings
Coronavirus Disease 2019
COVID-19
JEL: 
I18
H12
I10
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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