Optimal Lockdown in a Commuting Network

Edouard Schaal, Pablo Fajgelbaum, Amit Khandelwal, Wookun Kim and Cristiano Mantovani

No 14923, CEPR Discussion Papers from Centre for Economic Policy Research

Abstract: We study optimal dynamic lockdowns against Covid-19 within a commuting network. Our framework combines canonical spatial epidemiology and trade models, and is applied to cities with varying initial viral spread: Seoul, Daegu and NYC-Metro. Spatial lockdowns achieve substantially smaller income losses than uniform lockdowns, and are not easily approximated by simple centrality-based rules. In NYM and Daegu—with large initial shocks—the optimal lockdown restricts inflows to central districts before gradual relaxation, while in Seoul it imposes low temporal but large spatial variation. Actual commuting responses were too weak in central locations in Daegu and NYM, and too strong across Seoul.

Keywords: Covid-19; Lockdown; Commuting; Optimal policy; General equilibrium (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C6 R38 R4 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-mic, nep-net and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (45)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Optimal Lockdown in a Commuting Network (2021)
Working Paper: Optimal Lockdown in a Commuting Network (2020)
Working Paper: Optimal Lockdown in a Commuting Network (2020)
Working Paper: Optimal Lockdown in a Commuting Network (2020)
Working Paper: Optimal Lockdown in a Commuting Network (2020)
Working Paper: Optimal Lockdown in a Commuting Network (2020)
Working Paper: Optimal lockdown in a commuting network (2020)
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