Effects of income inequality on COVID-19 in Africa: Accounting for literacy and informal sector

Sévérin Tamwo (), Etayibtalnam Koudjom () and Aurelien KAMDEM Yeyouomo ()
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Sévérin Tamwo: University of Yaoundé-2, Cameroon
Etayibtalnam Koudjom: United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), Sub Regional Office for North Africa, Rabat, Morocco
Aurelien KAMDEM Yeyouomo: Centre for Finance and Development-Geneva Graduate Institute, Switzerland

Region et Developpement, 2024, vol. 60, 91-111

Abstract: The empirical literature has explored little regarding the transmission channels in the study of the relationship between income inequality and the spread of COVID-19. The aim of this article is to fill this gap by assessing the direct and indirect effects of income inequality on the spread of the pandemic using a sample of 43 African countries during the period from 2020 to 2022. Two indicators of COVID-19 are utilized: the total number of cases and the severity of the disease and explanatory variables, such as urban population and population density, play a significant role. Two transmission channels are particularly examined: the size of the informal sector and literacy rates. The results, derived from a fixed-effects regression model or estimated using generalized least squares, indicate that income inequality has a significant effect on the spread of COVID-19. However, it is shown that these results underestimate the effects of inequality when considering the indirect effects due to the weight of the informal sector and illiteracy.

Keywords: COVID-19; Income inequality; Africa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D63 I10 O17 O55 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:tou:journl:v:60:y:2024:p:91-111

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