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Begin New Search Topic Lockdown Policies Publication Year within 10 Years

1. Regressive income shocks during COVID‑9: Evidence from India

Author:
Amit Basole, Anand Shrivastava, Jay Kulkarni, and Akshit Arora
Publication Date:
08-2024
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for Sustainable Employment, Azim Premji University
Abstract:
Studies based on the Consumer Pyramids Household Survey (CPHS) in India have shown that the impact of the Covid-19 lockdown on household incomes was progressive in nature - richer households suffered more. But several media reports as well as purposive surveys carried out during the pandemic suggest that the poor suffered more than the rich. We use nationally representative panel data for urban India from the official Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) to show that households that were relatively richer prior to the start of the pandemic suffered relatively less during the lockdown compared to households that were poorer. That is, the shock was regressive in nature. We also confirm that, as per CPHS, richer households did indeed experience higher drops in income than poorer ones. But we show that this progressivity is much less than what prevailed prior to the pandemic. Thus the pandemic either disrupted ongoing progressive income changes or was outright regressive in its impacts.
Topic:
Employment, COVID-19, Lockdown Policies, and Income Distribution
Political Geography:
South Asia and India

2. Sustaining Civic Space in Times of COVID-19: Global Trends

Author:
Jasmin Lorch, Monika Onken, and Janjira Sombatpoonsiri
Publication Date:
09-2022
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
In this paper we challenge the conventional wisdom that COVID-19 and related legal restrictions invariably reinforce a global trend of shrinking civic space. We argue that the legal guarantee of civil liberties is not the sole factor configuring civic space. Instead, civic space is best understood as being configured by three interacting components: 1) the legal guarantee (or restriction) of civil liberties, that is, rights-based space; 2) socio-economic needs that configure needs-induced space; and, 3) civil society activism. During the pandemic needs-induced space for civil society has emerged both from the health crisis and because restrictive government responses have had severe socio-economic side effects on people’s livelihoods. These socio-economic conditions, along with civic discontent over restrictions on civil liberties, have driven civil society engagement in the form of both relief and advocacy/protest activism. Along with the structural condition of needs-induced space, this civil society activism has worked to sustain civic space.
Topic:
Civil Society, Pandemic, COVID-19, and Lockdown Policies
Political Geography:
Global Focus

3. Assessment of Impact of COVID-19 on SMEs in Azerbaijan: Consequences and Perspectives

Author:
Narmina Gasimova
Publication Date:
07-2022
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Economic and Social Development (CESD)
Abstract:
COVID-19 had a considerable negative impact on the economy of Azerbaijan, with SMEs being one of the major victims from the economic perspective. Economic sectors were affected to a different extent by the pandemic and lockdown measures. As a result of lockdown measures, many SMEs closed their operations with their employers not being paid or left without pay. Although the government provided essential support to small and medium-sized businesses, the share of closed businesses was high. Over two years since the beginning of the pandemic, a measures toward the improvement of the business environment was done. The share of operating and newly created SMEs increased along with legislative incentives adopted for their development.
Topic:
Economy, Public Health, COVID-19, and Lockdown Policies
Political Geography:
Azerbaijan and Caspian Sea

4. Lockdown Fatigue: The Diminishing Effects of Quarantines on the Spread of COVID-19

Author:
Patricio Goldstein, Eduardo Levy-Yeyati, and Luca Sartorio
Publication Date:
02-2021
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University
Abstract:
Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions (NPIs) have been for most countries the key policy instrument utilized to contain the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. In this article, we conduct an empirical analysis of the impact of these policies on the virus’ transmission and death toll, for a panel of 152 countries, from the start of the pandemic through December 31, 2020. We find that lockdowns tend to significantly reduce the spread of the virus and the number of related deaths. We also show that this benign impact declines over time: after four months of strict lockdown, NPIs have a significantly weaker contribution in terms of their effect in reducing COVID-19 related fatalities. Part of the fading effect of quarantines could be attributed to an increasing non-compliance with mobility restrictions, as reflected in our estimates of a declining effect of lockdowns on measures of actual mobility. However, we additionally find that a reduction in de facto mobility also exhibits a diminishing effect on health outcomes, which suggests that lockdown fatigues may have introduced broader hurdles to containment policies.
Topic:
Crisis Management, Public Policy, Pandemic, COVID-19, Health Crisis, and Lockdown Policies
Political Geography:
Global Focus

5. Coronavirus Lockdown Exacerbating Domestic Violence in Jordan

Author:
Center for Strategic Studies (CSS)
Publication Date:
04-2020
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Center for Strategic Studies (CSS)
Abstract:
The coronavirus pandemic has entered every home in one way or another. Strict lockdown measures to prevent the spread of the disease, are giving rise to a surge in domestic violence to which the UN is referring to as ‘the shadow pandemic’. To some, it is not safe to be home, therefore the UN Secretary General has called for governments to incorporate domestic abuse policies as a key part of their national response strategies against COVID-19. Realizing those serious human rights violations and their direct association to financial hardship; which are on the rise due to the loss of jobs/ curfew as a result of the coronavirus crisis, the Centre for Strategic Studies at the University of Jordan has immediately launched its 20th poll, as part of its “Jordanians’ Barometer – The Pulse of the Jordanian Street” series of polls, to reflect on the effect of the coronavirus crisis on the degree of domestic violence exacerbations among Jordanian households during the curfew. The poll was conducted between the 20th -26th of April, 2020, on a representative sample of the Jordanian community; taking into consideration the different age groups, educational levels and governorates. The collected data was processed and weighed by CSS research experts; to ensure the statistical representation of all governorates, within a margin of ±3% error. The outputs of the poll disclosed state-of-the-art statistics on domestic violence surge during COVID-19 lockdown in Jordan, originating a public debate among officials and citizens alike and starting a huge media campaign on television channels, radio stations and social media platforms. Furthermore, a hotline for reporting cases of domestic violence was launched by the Jordanian National Commission for Women (JNCW) and Al-Mamlaka TV; being its foremost impact.
Topic:
Public Health, Coronavirus, Pandemic, COVID-19, Domestic Violence, Polls, and Lockdown Policies
Political Geography:
Middle East and Jordan