REAL Seminar
October 2, 2020
9:00-10:00 a.m.
Join Zoom Meeting by clicking here
Meeting ID: 997 1523 2314
Passcode: 923169
Tatiane Menezes
Professor, Federal University of Pernambuco, Brazil
tatianedemenezes@gmail.com
"Assessing the impact of social distancing on COVID-19 cases and deaths in Brazil: An instrumented difference-in-differences approach"
Concern over the high rate of contagion of COVID-19 has prompted world authorities to use the strategy of isolation and social confinement as the main non-pharmacological weapon against the disease that has rapidly killed thousands of people worldwide. The aim of this study is to analyze the importance of the level of social isolation in reducing new coronavirus cases and deaths. For this, daily data on the level of contamination by COVID-19, social isolation and information from the Brazilian states between the months of February and May 2020 obtained from several databases are used. Taking advantage of the differences between the federal government of Brazil and state governors about the severity of the pandemic and the importance of social isolation, the article uses the Instrumented Difference-in-Differences approach, suggested by Duflo (2001), to obtain the causal impact of social isolation in mitigating COVID-19 cases and deaths, taking into account the relationship between the president of the republic and the states as an instrument. The results suggest that, in fact, the level of social isolation reduces the number of cases and deaths generated by the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, the first and second stage estimates are robust and significant with the introduction of the various controls used in the analysis
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Paulo Uranga
PhD Student, Graduate Program in Development Economics,
Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
paulouranga@gmail.com
"Spatial Inequality in Accessibility to ICU Beds in Brazilian Municipalities"
Due to the emergence of Covid-19, healthcare systems around the world are under severe strain. This new highly contagious virus can cause severe respiratory problems which require rapid admission to an intensive care unit (ICU). Thus, good accessibility to ICU beds is essential to minimize the number of deaths. This study analyses the inequality of accessibility to ICU beds among Brazilian municipalities, considering the age and gender of the population, the number of beds and their location and the distance that separates the population from the beds. The findings show there are regional differences in accessibility, which is more limited in the North and Northeast regions.
