Interaction Effect of Lockdown with Economic and Fiscal Measures against COVID-19 on Social-Distancing Compliance: Evidence from Africa

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to assess the impact of lockdown on human mobility based on a sample of Africa countries. Using a difference-in-difference (DiD) approach we find that lockdown causes a sharp decline in people's movement suggesting high compliance with social distancing requirements in countries under lockdown. Following the lockdown, workplace visits decrease by nearly 14 points of percentage in comparison to the baseline. We observe a similar decline concerning the visits in retail and recreation places or groceries and pharmacies. Inversely, the time spent at home increase by 6 points of percentage. These findings suggest that compliance with social-distancing requirements is higher in countries applying strict containment measures. More interestingly, this paper provides evidence that people's compliance with social-distancing measures is higher when combining lockdown measures with economic and fiscal interventions. We also find that access to the internet or increasing acquisition information about COVID-19 amplifies compliance with stay-at-home orders.

Keywords: COVID-19, Coronavirus, Lockdown, Stay-at-home, Containment, Compliance, Social distancing, Human mobility, Interaction, Economic, Fiscal, Internet, Google search word, Africa

JEL Classification: C23, C55, E71, H12, I12, I18, P12