The ‘welcomed lockdown’ hypothesis? Mental wellbeing and mobility restrictions

Joan Costa-Font, Martin Knapp and Cristina Vilaplana-Prieto

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic and its mobility restrictions have been an external shock, influencing mental wellbeing. However, does risk exposure to COVID-19 affect the mental wellbeing effect of lockdowns? This paper examines the 'welcomed lockdown' hypothesis, namely the extent to which there is a level of risk where mobility restrictions are not a hindrance to mental wellbeing. We exploit the differential timing of exposure the pandemic, and the different stringency of lockdown policies across European countries and we focus on the effects on two mental health conditions, namely anxiety and depression. We study whether differences in the individual symptoms of anxiety and depression are explained by the combination of pandemic mortality and stringency of lockdown. We draw on an event study approach, complemented with a Difference-in-Difference (DiD), and Regression Discontinuity Design (RDD). Our estimates suggest an average increase in depression (3.95%) and anxiety (10%) symptoms relative to the mean level on the day that lockdown took effect. However, such effects are wiped out when a country's exhibits high mortality ('pandemic category 5'). Hence, we conclude that in an environment of high mortality, lockdowns no longer give rise to a reduction in mental wellbeing consistent with the 'welcome lockdown' hypothesis.

Keywords: anxiety; depression; Covid-19; pandemic; lockdown; coronavirus; European Regional Development Fund ECO2017- 83668-R; PID2020-114231RB-I00 and RTI2018-095256-BI00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 21 pages
Date: 2023-07-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ltv and nep-mfd
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Published in European Journal of Health Economics, 1, July, 2023, 24(5), pp. 679-699. ISSN: 1618-7598

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