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Explaining the Income and Consumption Effects of COVID in India

Author

Listed:
  • Arpit Gupta
  • Anup Malani
  • Bartek Woda
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic led to stark reductions in economic activity in India. We employ CMIE's Consumer Pyramids Household Survey to examine the timing, distribution, and mechanism of the impacts from this shock on income and consumption through December 2020. First, we estimate large and heterogeneous drops in income, with ambiguous effects on inequality. While incomes of salaried workers fell 35%; incomes of daily laborers fell 75%. At the same time, we observe that income fell more for individuals from households in the highest income quartile. Second, we document an increase in effort to buffer income shocks by switching occupations. We employ a Roy Model to estimate the gains from occupation churn and find, surprisingly, that reservation wages fell, implying that the risk of COVID did not reduce the value of employment. Third, we find that consumption fell less than income, suggesting households were able to smooth the idiosyncratic components of the COVID shock as well as they did before COVID. Finally, consumption of food and fuel fell less than consumption of durables such as clothing and appliances. Following Costa (2001) and Hamilton (2001), we estimate Engel curves and find that changes in consumption reflect large price shocks (rather than a retreat to subsistence) in sectors other than food and fuel/power. In the food sector, it appear that lockdown successfully distinguished essential and non-essential services, at least to the extent that it did not increase the relative price of food. There is some suggestive evidence that the price shocks outside the food sector were larger in places with greater COVID-19 cases, even during the lockdown.

Suggested Citation

  • Arpit Gupta & Anup Malani & Bartek Woda, 2021. "Explaining the Income and Consumption Effects of COVID in India," NBER Working Papers 28935, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:28935
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    2. Arpit Gupta & Anup Malani & Bartosz Woda, 2021. "Inequality in India Declined During COVID," NBER Working Papers 29597, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Rönkkö, Risto & Rutherford, Stuart & Sen, Kunal, 2022. "The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the poor: Insights from the Hrishipara diaries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    4. Chatterjee, Oindrila & Gopalakrishnan, Balagopal & Mohapatra, Sanket, 2024. "Gold in household portfolios during a pandemic: Evidence from India," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 93(PA), pages 1288-1306.
    5. Neda Yousefian & Elena Wenninger & Christoph Dittrich, 2022. "Shifts in Food Consumption Practices among Middle-Class Households in Bengaluru, India," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-22, October.
    6. Somanchi, Anmol, 2021. "Missing the Poor, Big Time: A Critical Assessment of the Consumer Pyramids Household Survey," SocArXiv qmce9, Center for Open Science.
    7. Oindrila Chatterjee & Balagopal Gopalakrishnan & Sanket Mohapatra, 2023. "Gold in household portfolios during a pandemic: Evidence from an emerging economy," IIMA Working Papers WP 2023-06-01, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, Research and Publication Department.
    8. INOUE Hiroyasu & TODO Yasuyuki, 2022. "Has COVID-19 Permanently Changed Online Consumption Behavior?," Discussion papers 22018, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    9. Shubhangi Agrawal & Sambit Bhattacharyya & Chirantan Chatterjee & Somdeep Chatterjee, 2024. "Income shock and Women’s Health Spending:Evidence from India," Working Paper Series 1324, Department of Economics, University of Sussex Business School.
    10. Archana Dang & Mausumi Das & Indrani Gupta, 2023. "COVID-19 And The Unequal Distribution Of Poverty Risks: Evidence From Urban India," IEG Working Papers 458, Institute of Economic Growth.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • E2 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment
    • O1 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development
    • O53 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Asia including Middle East

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