Pandemics and Inequality: Assessing the Impact of COVID-19

Abstract

This chapter provides evidence on the impact of major epidemics from the past two decades on inequality and job prospects. Our results justify the concern that the COVID-19 pandemic could significantly raise inequality; past events of this kind, even though much smaller in scale, have led to increases in the Gini coefficient, lowered the employment-to-population ratio for those with basic education compared to those with higher education, and pushed people into precarious work in the form of self-employment or in the informal sector.