IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/vid/yearbk/v20y2022i1oid0x003cb240.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Effects of income inequality on COVID-19 infections and deaths during the first wave of the pandemic: Evidence from European countries

Author

Listed:
  • David A. Sánchez-Páez

Abstract

Evidence from research on infectious diseases suggests that income inequality is related to higher rates of infection and death in disadvantaged population groups. Our objective is to examine whether there was an association between income inequality and the numbers of cases and deaths during the first wave of the COVID- 19 pandemic in European countries. We determined the duration of the first wave by first smoothing the number of daily cases, and then using a LOESS regression to fit the smoothed trend. Next, we estimated quasi-Poisson regressions. Results from the bivariate models suggest there was a moderate positive association between the Gini index values and the cumulated number of infections and deaths during the first wave, although the statistical significance of this association disappeared when controls were included. Results from multivariate models suggest that higher numbers of infections and deaths from COVID-19 were associated with countries having more essential workers, larger elderly populations and lower health care capacities.

Suggested Citation

  • David A. Sánchez-Páez, 2022. "Effects of income inequality on COVID-19 infections and deaths during the first wave of the pandemic: Evidence from European countries," Vienna Yearbook of Population Research, Vienna Institute of Demography (VID) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna, vol. 20(1), pages 85-106.
    • Handle: RePEc:vid:yearbk:v:20:y:2022:i:1:oid:0x003cb240
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://austriaca.at/0xc1aa5576_0x003cb240.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Adams-Prassl, Abi & Boneva, Teodora & Golin, Marta & Rauh, Christopher, 2020. "Inequality in the impact of the coronavirus shock: Evidence from real time surveys," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).
    2. Aparicio Fenoll, Ainoa & Grossbard, Shoshana, 2020. "Intergenerational residence patterns and Covid-19 fatalities in the EU and the US," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 39(C).
    3. Elgar, Frank J. & Stefaniak, Anna & Wohl, Michael J.A., 2020. "The trouble with trust: Time-series analysis of social capital, income inequality, and COVID-19 deaths in 84 countries," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 263(C).
    4. Jan H.M. Nelissen, 1999. "Mortality Differences Related to Socioeconomic Status and the Progressivity of Old-Age Pensions and Health Insurance: The Netherlands," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 15(1), pages 77-97, March.
    5. Nicholas W. Papageorge & Matthew V. Zahn & Michèle Belot & Eline Broek-Altenburg & Syngjoo Choi & Julian C. Jamison & Egon Tripodi, 2021. "Socio-demographic factors associated with self-protecting behavior during the Covid-19 pandemic," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 34(2), pages 691-738, April.
    6. Pickett, Kate E. & Wilkinson, Richard G., 2015. "Income inequality and health: A causal review," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 316-326.
    7. Paul Rutter & Oliver Mytton & Matthew Mak & Liam Donaldson, 2012. "Socio-economic disparities in mortality due to pandemic influenza in England," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 57(4), pages 745-750, August.
    8. Cristini, Annalisa & Trivin, Pedro, 2020. "Close encounters on the verge of a pandemic: the role of social contacts on the spread and mortality of COVID-19," MPRA Paper 103075, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Jung, Juergen & Manley, James & Shrestha, Vinish, 2021. "Coronavirus infections and deaths by poverty status: The effects of social distancing," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 182(C), pages 311-330.
    10. Albert Esteve & Iñaki Permanyer & Diederik Boertien & James W. Vaupel, 2020. "National age and coresidence patterns shape COVID-19 vulnerability," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 117(28), pages 16118-16118, July.
    11. Lembke B., 1918. "√ a. p," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 111(1), pages 709-712, February.
    12. Crighton, Eric J. & Elliott, Susan J. & Moineddin, Rahim & Kanaroglou, Pavlos & Upshur, Ross, 2007. "A spatial analysis of the determinants of pneumonia and influenza hospitalizations in Ontario (1992-2001)," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 64(8), pages 1636-1650, April.
    13. Marília R. Nepomuceno & Enrique Acosta & Diego Alburez-Gutierrez & José Manuel Aburto & Alain Gagnon & Cássio M. Turra, 2020. "Besides population age structure, health and other demographic factors can contribute to understanding the COVID-19 burden," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 117(25), pages 13881-13883, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Chakrabarty, Debajyoti & Bhatia, Bhanu & Jayasinghe, Maneka & Low, David, 2023. "Relative deprivation, inequality and the Covid-19 pandemic," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 324(C).
    2. Brandily, Paul & Brébion, Clément & Briole, Simon & Khoury, Laura, 2021. "A poorly understood disease? The impact of COVID-19 on the income gradient in mortality over the course of the pandemic," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    3. Bello, Piera & Rocco, Lorenzo, 2022. "Education and COVID-19 excess mortality," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 47(C).
    4. John F. Helliwell & Max B. Norton & Shun Wang & Lara B. Aknin & Haifang Huang, 2021. "Well-being Analysis Favours a Virus-Elimination Strategy for COVID-19," NBER Working Papers 29092, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Brzezinski, Michal, 2021. "The impact of past pandemics on economic and gender inequalities," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 43(C).
    6. Colvin, Christopher L. & McLaughlin, Eoin, 2021. "Death, demography and the denominator: Age-adjusted Influenza-18 mortality in Ireland," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 41(C).
    7. Nicholas W. Papageorge & Matthew V. Zahn & Michèle Belot & Eline Broek-Altenburg & Syngjoo Choi & Julian C. Jamison & Egon Tripodi, 2021. "Socio-demographic factors associated with self-protecting behavior during the Covid-19 pandemic," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 34(2), pages 691-738, April.
    8. Ainaa, Carmen & Brunetti, Irene & Mussida, Chiara & Scicchitano, Sergio, 2021. "Who lost the most? Distributive effects of COVID-19 pandemic," GLO Discussion Paper Series 829, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    9. Jeffrey E. Harris, 2021. "Los Angeles County SARS-CoV-2 Epidemic: Critical Role of Multi-generational Intra-household Transmission," Journal of Bioeconomics, Springer, vol. 23(1), pages 55-83, April.
    10. Mellacher, Patrick, 2023. "The impact of corona populism: Empirical evidence from Austria and theory," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 209(C), pages 113-140.
    11. Hai-Anh Dang & Toan L.D. Huynh & Manh-Hung Nguyen, 2023. "Does the COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately affect the poor? Evidence from a six-country survey," Journal of Economics and Development, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 26(1), pages 2-18, December.
    12. Brandily, Paul & Brébion, Clément & Briole, Simon & Khoury, Laura, 2020. "A Poorly Understood Disease? The Unequal Distribution of Excess Mortality Due to COVID-19 Across French Municipalities," Discussion Paper Series in Economics 15/2020, Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Economics.
    13. Mangiavacchi, Lucia & Piccoli, Luca & Pieroni, Luca, 2021. "Fathers matter: Intrahousehold responsibilities and children's wellbeing during the COVID-19 lockdown in Italy," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 42(C).
    14. Elgar, Frank J. & Stefaniak, Anna & Wohl, Michael J.A., 2020. "The trouble with trust: Time-series analysis of social capital, income inequality, and COVID-19 deaths in 84 countries," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 263(C).
    15. Carmen Aina & Irene Brunetti & Chiara Mussida & Sergio Scicchitano, 2023. "Distributional effects of COVID-19," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 13(1), pages 221-256, March.
    16. Dang, Hai-Anh H. & Nguyen, Cuong Viet & Carletto, Calogero, 2023. "Did a successful fight against COVID-19 come at a cost? Impacts of the pandemic on employment outcomes in Vietnam," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    17. Major, Lee Elliott & Eyles, Andrew & Machin, Stephen, 2021. "Unequal learning and labour market losses in the crisis: consequences for social mobility," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 114413, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    18. Michèle Belot & Syngjoo Choi & Egon Tripodi & Eline van den Broek-Altenburg & Julian C. Jamison & Nicholas W. Papageorge, 2021. "Unequal consequences of Covid 19: representative evidence from six countries," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 19(3), pages 769-783, September.
    19. Paul Brandily & Clément Brébion & Simon Briole & Laura Khoury, 2021. "A Poorly Understood Disease? The Evolution of the Income Gradient in Excess Mortality Due to COVID-19 within Urban Areas," Working Papers halshs-03154551, HAL.
    20. Cristini, Annalisa & Trivin, Pedro, 2022. "Close encounters during a pandemic: Social habits and inter-generational links in the first two waves of COVID-19," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 47(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:vid:yearbk:v:20:y:2022:i:1:oid:0x003cb240. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Bernhard Rengs (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.oeaw.ac.at/vid/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.