The Need for Localized, Socio-economic Policy Measures for Controlling a Pandemic: An Empirical Study of COVID-19 in India

Ashish Gupta, Prashant Das and Dongshin Kim

Vikalpa: The Journal for Decision Makers, 2024, vol. 49, issue 3, 213-229

Abstract: We examine the localized nature of COVID-19 pandemic spread in India. Through Gamma curve-fitting we observe that the infection patterns exhibit substantial variation across locations. Areas with larger male population and higher economic activity witness more cases. Economically-deprived districts experience higher mortality after controlling for the infections. Mobility in spatially contiguous locations is a significant determinant of new infections. Our study emphasizes the role of socioeconomic factors in explaining the variation across districts. The findings support the need for locally-specific policy, better medical infrastructure in socio-economically vulnerable localities and social-distancing measures in controlling the spread.

Keywords: Socio-economic; Localized Policy Measures; Controlling Pandemic; Spatial Autoregressive Regression; COVID-19 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:vikjou:v:49:y:2024:i:3:p:213-229

DOI: 10.1177/02560909241260234

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