Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/251099 
Year of Publication: 
2020
Series/Report no.: 
EERI Research Paper Series No. 07/2020
Publisher: 
Economics and Econometrics Research Institute (EERI), Brussels
Abstract: 
We estimate an unrestricted VAR to summarize the dynamics of the stringency of policy and COVID-19 infections in New Zealand, Australia, Denmark, Sweden, and the U.S. using the newly published Stringency Index by the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford, Hale et al. (2020). The stringency of the policy responds positively to the number of new infections, and new infection cases respond negatively to the increase in the stringency of the policy. New Zealand and Australia followed slightly different stringent policies, but both managed the pandemic remarkably well. Denmark, Sweden, and the U.S. adopted different policies in terms of stringency and timing. Had Denmark, Sweden, and the U.S. adopted the New Zealand's stringent policy they could have reduced the number of infection cases significantly, but not as much as in New Zealand because the stringency and timing of policy is endogenous and country-specific.
Subjects: 
COVID-19
Stringency Index
VAR
JEL: 
I10
C9
C53
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.