Date: March 18, 2020
Time: 10:00-11:00am EST
Event Chair: Dean Jolliffe, Senior Advisor, Development Data Group
Discussant: David Newhouse, Senior Economist, Poverty and Equity Global Practice
Abstract: Attempts to limit the spread of COVID-19 have taken a dramatic toll on the global economy. Based on a recent working paper, this seminar will provide evidence on the evolving socioeconomic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic among households in Ethiopia, Malawi, Nigeria, and Uganda. The analysis leverages the longitudinal data from the World Bank-supported phone surveys on COVID-19. In each country, the phone survey conducts monthly phone interviews with a national sample of households that had been interviewed face-to-face during the latest round of the pre-COVID-19 national longitudinal household survey that had been implemented by the respective national statistical office (NSO), with support from the World Bank Living Standards Measurement Study - Integrated Surveys on Agriculture (LSMS-ISA) program. The data allow estimating the immediate economic impacts of the pandemic, beginning in April 2020, and tracking how the situation evolved through September 2020. Although households have started to see recovery in income, business revenues, and food security, the gains have been relatively modest. Additionally, households have received very little outside assistance and their ability to cope with shocks remains limited. School closures have created a vacuum in education delivery and school-aged children have struggled to receive education services remotely.
Speakers: Talip Kilic, Senior Economist, Development Data Group; Anna Josephson, Assistant Professor, University of Arizona
