Recovering from the first Covid-19 lockdown: Economic impacts of the UK's Eat Out to Help Out scheme

Nicolás González-Pampillón (), Gonzalo Nunez-Chaim and Katharina Ziegler

CEP Covid-19 Analyses from Centre for Economic Performance, LSE

Abstract: We evaluate some of the economic impacts of the UK's Eat Out to Help Out (EOTHO) scheme on the food service sector. EOTHO subsidised the cost of eating out, with a 50% discount Mondays to Wednesdays in August 2020. We exploit the spatial variation in take-up using a continuous difference-in-differences approach. We measure the effect on footfall using mobility data from Google and on employment using job posts from Indeed. Our estimates indicate that footfall in retail & recreation increased by 5%-6%, while job posts in the food preparation & service industry increased by 7%-14%. These effects are transitory, and we do not find evidence of spillover benefits to non-recreational activities or other sectors. Further research is needed to assess the cost-effectiveness of EOTHO and similar programmes for boosting aggregate demand and supporting economic recovery after COVID-19 lockdowns.

Keywords: Consumption subsidy; COVID-19; difference-in-differences; footfall; job posts (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021-02-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dem
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cep:cepcvd:cepcovid-19-018

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