Estimating Impact of Austerity Policies in COVID-19 Fatality Rates: Examining the Dynamics of Economic Policy and Case Fatality Rates (CFR) of COVID-19 in OECD Countries

Dawa Sherpa

doi:10.2139/ssrn.3581274

Abstract

The paper will attempt to estimate factors which determine the variability of case fatality rates of COVID-19 (Coronavirus) across OECD countries in the recent time. The objective of the paper is to estimate the impact of government health policies on fatality rates (Case fatality rates) of COVID-19 in OECD countries while controlling for other demographic and economic characteristics. The analysis is done using non-parametric regression method, i.e. Quantile regression. The result from quantile regression analysis shows that a policy of Austerity (health expenditure cuts) significantly increases the mortality rates of COVID-19 in OCED countries. The policy implication of the study is the need for a robust public-funded health system with wider accessibility to deal with major public health crisis like COVID-19 pandemic.

Highlights

The contemporary world is facing an unprecedented public health crisis of emerging from Covid-19
The fatality rates are measured by crude Case fatality rates (CFC), which is the ratio of confirmed death to confirmed positive cases of covid-19 for each country
The coefficient of the variable of public health GDP is negative and significant at one per cent level of significance. It shows that countries which have a higher share of the public-funded health system have a lower case fatality rate

Summary

Introduction

The contemporary world is facing an unprecedented public health crisis of emerging from Covid-19. Covid-19 has spread to 200 countries and infected 877422 people across the world. Out of total infected people across the globe, nearly 43537 has died, and 185241 has recovered till 1st April 2020(CSSE, 2020). The countries across the globe have responded with various measures including rapid testing of population, isolating suspected individuals, imposing strict social distancing norms, totally shut down of economic activities in the form of lockdowns (Ebrahim et al, 2020; Kupferschmidt & Cohen, 2020; Tanne et al, 2020; Wong et al, 2020). The economic impact of Covid-19 for different regions and countries are studied using different (Abiad et al, 2020; Atkeson, 2020; Fernandes, 2020; Hartley & Makridis, 2020; McKibbin & Fernando, 2020; Ruiz Estrada, 2020)

Objective of Research

Data source and Methodology

Statistical Analysis

Findings

Conclusion