Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/283080 
Year of Publication: 
2023
Series/Report no.: 
JRC Working Papers in Economics and Finance No. 2023/1
Publisher: 
European Commission, Ispra
Abstract: 
In response to the two waves of Covid-19 in 2020, the Italian government implemented a general lockdown in March, but geographically targeted policies during fall. We exploit this natural experiment to compare the effects of the two policies in a difference-in-differences design, leveraging a unique database combining traditional, municipality-level and big data at weekly frequency. We find that the general lockdown of the first wave strongly reduced mobility at a high price in terms of employment, while the targeted policies during the second wave induced a lower decrease in mobility and little additional economic cost. We also study the role of pre-existing municipality characteristics and labour market policies in shaping these responses. Our results suggest that working from home and short-term working schemes buffered the adverse consequences of the drop in economic activity on the labour market. Both mechanisms, however, acted more strongly in high-income areas and among white collar workers, further exacerbating existing inequalities.
Subjects: 
Covid-19
human mobility
lockdowns
big data
differences-in-differences
JEL: 
I12
I18
H12
D04
C33
H51
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by Logo
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.