Will COVID-19 Have Long-Lasting Effects on Inequality? Evidence from Past Pandemics

By Davide Furceri, Prakash Loungani, Jonathan David Ostry, Pietro Pizzuto

May 1, 2021

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Format: Chicago

Davide Furceri, Prakash Loungani, Jonathan David Ostry, and Pietro Pizzuto. Will COVID-19 Have Long-Lasting Effects on Inequality? Evidence from Past Pandemics, (USA: International Monetary Fund, 2021) accessed November 21, 2024

Disclaimer: IMF Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to encourage debate. The views expressed in IMF Working Papers are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the IMF, its Executive Board, or IMF management.

Summary

This paper provides evidence on the impact of major epidemics from the past two decades on income distribution. The pandemics in our sample, even though much smaller in scale than COVID-19, have led to increases in the Gini coefficient, raised the income share of higher-income deciles, and lowered the employment-to-population ratio for those with basic education compared to those with higher education. We provide some evidence that the distributional consequences from the current pandemic may be larger than those flowing from the historical pandemics in our sample, and larger than those following typical recessions and financial crises.

Subject: COVID-19, Financial crises, Health, Income, Income distribution, Income inequality, National accounts

Keywords: COVID-19, Global, Impact of pandemic, Income, Income distribution, Income inequality, Income share, Pandemic dummy regression, Pandemic event, Severity of the pandemic

Publication Details

Pages:

46
Volume:

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DOI:

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Issue:

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Series:

Working Paper No. 2021/127
Stock No:

WPIEA2021127
ISBN:

9781513582375
ISSN:

1018-5941

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