IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/soecon/v91y2025i3p1012-1047.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The color of coronavirus

Author

Listed:
  • Cong S. Pham
  • Devashish Mitra

Abstract

This study examines racial disparities in the impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic in the United States, focusing on factors influencing infection and mortality rates at the county level. We find compelling evidence of disproportionate effects on ethnic minority groups, particularly Blacks, Hispanic Americans, and Native Americans. Additionally, socioeconomic variables including income inequality, residential segregation and lack of health insurance coverage are identified as significant contributors to these disparities. Notably, our analysis reveals a diminishing trend in disparities over time, suggesting possible effectiveness of policy responses and/or differential preventive behaviors across racial groups. Finally, the paper identifies several mediating channels through which socioeconomic variables contribute to overall disparities.

Suggested Citation

  • Cong S. Pham & Devashish Mitra, 2025. "The color of coronavirus," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 91(3), pages 1012-1047, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:wly:soecon:v:91:y:2025:i:3:p:1012-1047
    DOI: 10.1002/soej.12721
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/soej.12721
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/soej.12721?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Janet Currie & Jonathan Gruber, 1996. "Health Insurance Eligibility, Utilization of Medical Care, and Child Health," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 111(2), pages 431-466.
    2. Finkelstein, Amy & McKnight, Robin, 2008. "What did Medicare do? The initial impact of Medicare on mortality and out of pocket medical spending," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(7), pages 1644-1668, July.
    3. Kosali Simon & Aparna Soni & John Cawley, 2017. "The Impact of Health Insurance on Preventive Care and Health Behaviors: Evidence from the First Two Years of the ACA Medicaid Expansions," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 36(2), pages 390-417, March.
    4. Allcott, Hunt & Boxell, Levi & Conway, Jacob & Gentzkow, Matthew & Thaler, Michael & Yang, David, 2020. "Polarization and public health: Partisan differences in social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    5. McLaren John, 2021. "Racial Disparity in COVID-19 Deaths: Seeking Economic Roots with Census Data," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 21(3), pages 897-919, July.
    6. Amy Finkelstein & Sarah Taubman & Bill Wright & Mira Bernstein & Jonathan Gruber & Joseph P. Newhouse & Heidi Allen & Katherine Baicker, 2012. "The Oregon Health Insurance Experiment: Evidence from the First Year," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 127(3), pages 1057-1106.
    7. Gruber, Jonathan, 2011. "The Impacts of the Affordable Care Act: How Reasonable Are the Projections?," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 64(3), pages 893-908, September.
    8. Kondo, Naoki & Kawachi, Ichiro & Subramanian, S.V. & Takeda, Yasuhisa & Yamagata, Zentaro, 2008. "Do social comparisons explain the association between income inequality and health?: Relative deprivation and perceived health among male and female Japanese individuals," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 67(6), pages 982-987, September.
    9. Anton Gollwitzer & Cameron Martel & William J. Brady & Philip Pärnamets & Isaac G. Freedman & Eric D. Knowles & Jay J. Van Bavel, 2020. "Partisan differences in physical distancing are linked to health outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 4(11), pages 1186-1197, November.
    10. Dafny, Leemore & Gruber, Jonathan, 2005. "Public insurance and child hospitalizations: access and efficiency effects," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(1), pages 109-129, January.
    11. Christopher R. Knittel & Bora Ozaltun, 2020. "What Does and Does Not Correlate with COVID-19 Death Rates," NBER Working Papers 27391, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Currie, Janet & Gruber, Jonathan, 1996. "Saving Babies: The Efficacy and Cost of Recent Changes in the Medicaid Eligibility of Pregnant Women," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 104(6), pages 1263-1296, December.
    13. McLaughlin, D.K. & Stokes, C.S., 2002. "Income inequality and mortality in US counties: Does minority racial concentration matter?," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 92(1), pages 99-104.
    14. Pickett, Kate E. & Wilkinson, Richard G., 2015. "Income inequality and health: A causal review," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 316-326.
    15. Jonathan Gruber, 2011. "The Impacts of the Affordable Care Act: How Reasonable Are the Projections?," NBER Working Papers 17168, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    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. Barbaresco, Silvia & Courtemanche, Charles J. & Qi, Yanling, 2015. "Impacts of the Affordable Care Act dependent coverage provision on health-related outcomes of young adults," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 54-68.
    2. Charles Courtemanche & James Marton & Benjamin Ukert & Aaron Yelowitz & Daniela Zapata, 2018. "Early Effects of the Affordable Care Act on Health Care Access, Risky Health Behaviors, and Self‐Assessed Health," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 84(3), pages 660-691, January.
    3. Courtemanche, Charles & Friedson, Andrew & Koller, Andrew P. & Rees, Daniel I., 2019. "The affordable care act and ambulance response times," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    4. Andrey Aistov & Ekaterina Aleksandrova & Christopher J. Gerry, 2021. "Voluntary private health insurance, health-related behaviours and health outcomes: evidence from Russia," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 22(2), pages 281-309, March.
    5. Sarah Miller & Norman Johnson & Laura R Wherry, 2021. "Medicaid and Mortality: New Evidence From Linked Survey and Administrative Data," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 136(3), pages 1783-1829.
    6. Borgschulte, Mark & Vogler, Jacob, 2020. "Did the ACA Medicaid expansion save lives?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    7. Dominic Coey, 2015. "The Effect of Medicaid on Health Care Consumption of Young Adults," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(5), pages 558-565, May.
    8. Bhalotra, Sonia & Fernandez, Manuel, 2021. "The Right to Health and the Health Effects of Denials," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 1376, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.
    9. Liu, Yinan & Zai, Xianhua, 2022. "The Benefits of Medicaid Home and Community-Based Services on Health," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1079, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    10. Kondo, Ayako & Shigeoka, Hitoshi, 2013. "Effects of universal health insurance on health care utilization, and supply-side responses: Evidence from Japan," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 1-23.
    11. M. Taha Kasim & Benjamin Ukert, 2021. "The impact of WIC participation on tobacco use and alcohol consumption," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 39(3), pages 608-625, July.
    12. Cortnie Shupe, 2023. "Public Health Insurance and Medical Spending: The Incidence of the ACA Medicaid Expansion," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 42(1), pages 137-165, January.
    13. Ruchi Avtar & Rajashri Chakrabarti & Lindsay Meyerson & William Nober & Maxim L. Pinkovskiy, 2020. "The Affordable Care Act and the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Regression Discontinuity Analysis," Staff Reports 948, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
    14. repec:mrr:papers:wp341 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Jacob Vogler, 2020. "Access to Healthcare and Criminal Behavior: Evidence from the ACA Medicaid Expansions," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 39(4), pages 1166-1213, September.
    16. Feiyan Yang & Li Wei, 2023. "The impact of tax-subsidized health insurance on health and out-of-pocket burden in China," The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance - Issues and Practice, Palgrave Macmillan;The Geneva Association, vol. 48(1), pages 194-246, January.
    17. Klein, Alexander & Crafts, Nicholas, 2023. "Unconditional Convergence in Manufacturing Productivity across U.S. States: What the Long-Run Data Show," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 660, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    18. Andersen, Martin S., 2018. "Effects of Medicare coverage for the chronically ill on health insurance, utilization, and mortality: Evidence from coverage expansions affecting people with end-stage renal disease," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 75-89.
    19. Liu, Yinan & Zai, Xianhua, 2022. "Does Aging at Home Make Older Adults Healthy: Evidence from Medicaid Home and Community-Based Services," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1079 [rev.], Global Labor Organization (GLO), revised 2022.
    20. Clayton, Denise Hammock, 2019. "The Effect of Prescription Drug Coverage on Mortality: Evidence from Medicaid Implementation," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 100-113.
    21. Janine Aron & John Muellbauer, 2022. "Excess Mortality Versus COVID‐19 Death Rates: A Spatial Analysis of Socioeconomic Disparities and Political Allegiance Across U.S. States," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 68(2), pages 348-392, June.

    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:wly:soecon:v:91:y:2025:i:3:p:1012-1047. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1002/(ISSN)2325-8012 .

    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.