Lockdown Accounting

Charles Gottlieb (), Jan Grobovsek (), Markus Poschke and Fernando Saltiel

No 13397, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: We measure the effect of lockdown policies on employment and GDP across countries using individual- and sector-level data. Employment effects depend on the ability to work from home, which ranges from about half of total employment in rich countries to around 35% in poor countries. This gap reflects differences in occupational composition, self-employment levels, and individual characteristics across countries. GDP effects of lockdown policies also depend on countries' sectoral structure. Losses in poor countries are attenuated by their higher value-added share in essential sectors, notably agriculture. Overall, a realistic lockdown policy implies GDP losses of 20-25% on an annualized basis.

Keywords: COVID-19; work from home; structural change (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J21 O11 O14 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 29 pages
Date: 2020-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lma
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Lockdown Accounting (2022)
Working Paper: Lockdown Accounting (2020)
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