Stay-at-Home Works to Fight Against COVID-19: International Evidence from Google Mobility Data

Hakan Yilmazkuday

No 2008, Working Papers from Florida International University, Department of Economics

Abstract: Daily Google mobility data covering 130 countries over the period between February 15th, 2020 and May 2nd, 2020 suggest that less mobility is associated with lower COVID-19 cases and deaths. This observation is formally tested by using a difference-in-difference design, where country-fixed effects, day-fixed effects as well as the country-specific timing of the 100th COVID-19 case are controlled for. The results suggest that 1% of a weekly increase in being at residential places leads into about 70 less weekly COVID-19 cases and about 7 less weekly COVID-19 deaths, whereas 1% of a weekly decrease in visits to transit stations leads into about 33 less weekly COVID-19 cases and about 4 less weekly COVID-19 deaths, on average across countries. Similarly, 1% of a weekly reduction in visits to retail & recreation results in about 25 less weekly COVID-19 cases and about 3 less weekly COVID-19 deaths, or 1% of a weekly reduction in visits to workplaces results in about 18 less weekly COVID-19 cases and about 2 less weekly COVID-19 deaths.

Keywords: Coronavirus; Stay-at-Home; Google Mobility (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I10 I18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 18 pages
Date: 2020-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ene and nep-isf
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

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