Slums and pandemics.
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Authors
Brotherhood, Luiz
Cavalcanti, Tiago
Da Mata, Daniel
Santos, Cezar
Publication Date
2022-06Journal Title
J Dev Econ
ISSN
0304-3878
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Volume
157
Language
eng
Type
Article
This Version
VoR
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Brotherhood, L., Cavalcanti, T., Da Mata, D., & Santos, C. (2022). Slums and pandemics.. J Dev Econ, 157 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2022.102882
Abstract
How do slums shape the economic and health dynamics of pandemics? A difference-in-differences analysis using millions of mobile phones in Brazil shows that residents of overcrowded slums engaged in less social distancing after the outbreak of Covid-19. We develop and calibrate a choice-theoretic equilibrium model in which individuals are heterogeneous in income and some people live in high-density slums. Slum residents account for a disproportionately high number of infections and deaths and, without slums, deaths increase in non-slum neighborhoods. Policy analysis of reallocation of medical resources, lockdowns and cash transfers produce heterogeneous effects across groups. 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.
Keywords
Covid-19, Health, Public policies, Slums, Social distancing
Identifiers
35463050, PMC9017060
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2022.102882
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/337531
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