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Households’ poverty and inequality after the COVID-19: Insights from panel data of face-to-face surveys in Southeast Asia

Author

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  • Manh Hung Do
  • Trung Thanh Nguyen
  • Ulrike Grote

Abstract

The global COVID-19 pandemic has had catastrophic impacts on global economies and human health. The consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic include the fatalities of millions of people and increased poverty. Given the limited evidence at the micro level and on the heterogeneous impacts of the COVID-19, we use panel data of 2,517 households from Thailand and Vietnam to investigate the correlation and heterogeneous effects of the COVID-19 on household income and poverty and to examine the distributional effects on household income. The results show that the COVID-19 has a negative correlation with household income, while it has a positive correlation with the Gini coefficient of income inequality and poverty. Our results also show that there are unequal effects of the COVID-19 on household income, inequality, and poverty at the micro level. Further, the COVID-19 has the highest negative impact on daily per capita income of households in the 10th and 25th quantile groups. Policy implications are proposed to support households in disadvantageous groups.

Suggested Citation

  • Manh Hung Do & Trung Thanh Nguyen & Ulrike Grote, 2026. "Households’ poverty and inequality after the COVID-19: Insights from panel data of face-to-face surveys in Southeast Asia," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 21(1), pages 1-16, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0341648
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0341648
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    References listed on IDEAS

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