While few economists dispute that governments should have some role in dealing with pandemics, the relevant institutional question is whether governments can deal with pandemics. In this article, we argue that there are trade-offs embedded with the provision of public health measures. States...

The COVID-19 pandemic poses novel health issues. However, the benefits and costs of the pandemic and policies to address it have a familiar economic structure. Chief among the health-related benefits are the monetized values of the U.S. mortality costs of $3.9 trillion in 2020. The combined U.S....

Objectives: To investigate whether social trust is associated with more stress symptoms among middle-aged and older adults in six East and Southeast Asia regions during the COVID-19 pandemic.Methods: This multi-region study used cross-sectional survey data collected in May 2020. Participants...

This paper examines the political economy of epidemic disease. First, it outlines the incentive and information problems facing policymakers in responding to a new epidemic. Second, it considers the existence of a possible tradeoff between public health and freedom. Informed by a survey of the...

Using detailed daily information covering 100 countries and an event-study approach, we estimate the short run effects of implementing Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions (NPIs) on the spread of the COVID-19 virus at the early stages of the pandemic. We study the impact of two NPIs -stay-at-home...

This study carries out a cross-country analysis of changes in quantity and quality of life during the first six months of the COVID-19 pandemic (11 March to 11 September 2020) for 124 countries. Changes in quantity of life are measured as life years lost to COVID-19, including excess deaths not...

This study assesses the level of awareness of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and the extent of the government's preparedness in Nigeria. It examines the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the income level of households in Nigeria, the prices of goods and services as well as financial...

This study investigated the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the health, food security and financial lives of Nigerian households. The data for the study were collected using a questionnaire for 813 households from the six geo-political zones in Nigeria and the results were analysed using...

The on-going debate regarding in-kind versus cash transfers to low-income people focuses on normal settings, devoid of the additional constraints imposed during a crisis. We analyze the effect of welfare regulations on SNAP and WIC recipients in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and related herd...

This paper builds a government policy choice model in a general equilibrium setting in which households' health status responds to a stricter policy on the pandemic. By assuming an exogenous policy decision date, the model implies the government should maintain the current policy until the...