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

Will COVID-19 Have Long-Lasting Effects on Inequality? Evidence from Past Pandemics
ISBN-10
1513582372
ISBN-13
9781513582375
Category
Business & Economics
Pages
45
Language
English
Published
2021-05
Publisher
International Monetary Fund
Authors
Mr. Prakash Loungani, Mr. Jonathan David Ostry, Davide Furceri

Description

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.

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