Slums and Pandemics

Luiz Brotherhood
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Tiago Vanderlei de Vasconcelos Cavalcanti, Cezar Santos and Daniel Da Mata

Working Papers from Banco de Portugal, Economics and Research Department

Abstract: This paper studies the role of slums in shaping the economic and health dynamics of pandemics. Using data from millions of mobile phones in Brazil, an event-study analysis shows that residents of overcrowded slums engaged in less social distancing after the outbreak of Covid-19. We develop a choice-theoretic equilibrium model in which individuals are heterogeneous in income and some people live in high-density slums. The model is calibrated to Rio de Janeiro. Slum dwellers account for a disproportionately high number of infections and deaths. In a counterfactual scenario without slums, deaths increase in non-slum neighborhoods. Policy simulations indicate that: reallocating medical resources cuts deaths and raises output and the welfare of both groups; mild lockdowns favor slum individuals by mitigating the demand for hospital beds, whereas strict confinements mostly delay the evolution of the pandemic; and cash transfers benefit slum residents to the detriment of others, highlighting important distributional effects.

JEL-codes: C63 D62 E17 I10 I18 O18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea, nep-isf and nep-mac
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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https://www.bportugal.pt/sites/default/files/anexos/papers/wp202015.pdf

Related works:
Journal Article: Slums and pandemics (2022)
Working Paper: Slums and Pandemics (2020)
Working Paper: Slums and Pandemics (2020)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ptu:wpaper:w202015

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