Severity of the COVID-19 Pandemic in India. The Case of Three States: Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Meghalaya

GDI Working Paper 2020-047

37 Pages Posted: 13 Oct 2020

See all articles by Nidhi Kaicker

Nidhi Kaicker

Ambedkar University Delhi

Katsushi S. Imai

The University of Manchester - School of Social Sciences

Raghav Gaiha

University of Pennsylvania, Population Studies Center, Students

Date Written: October 12, 2020

Abstract

This is the first econometric analysis of the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic measured using two related but distinct measures of mortality up to 21 June 2020.One is the Cumulative Severity Ratio(CSR) and the other is the Daily Severity Ratio (DSR). The CSR measures the additional pressure on India’s fragile and ill-equipped healthcare system, the DSR helps monitor the progression of fatalities. Another important contribution of this analysis is the use of rigorous econometric methodology: random-effects models and Hausman–Taylor models. Although the rationales vary, they yield a large core of robust results. The specifications are rich and comprehensive, despite heavy data constraints. The factors associated with the CSR and DSR include (lagged) COVID-19 cases, income, age, gender, multi-morbidity, urban population density, lockdown phases within three states, Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Meghalaya, and weather, including temperature and rainfall and their interactions with the two state dummies. Given the paucity of rigorous econometric analyses, our study yields policy insights of considerable significance.

Keywords: COVID-19, Cumulative Severity Ratio, Daily Severity Ratio, Random-Effects Model, Hausman–Taylor model, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, India

JEL Classification: C23, I18, N35, O10

Suggested Citation

Kaicker, Nidhi and Imai, Katsushi S. and Gaiha, Raghav, Severity of the COVID-19 Pandemic in India. The Case of Three States: Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Meghalaya (October 12, 2020). GDI Working Paper 2020-047, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3709831 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3709831

Nidhi Kaicker (Contact Author)

Ambedkar University Delhi ( email )

Kashmere Gate,
Lothian Road
Delhi, 110006
India

Katsushi S. Imai

The University of Manchester - School of Social Sciences ( email )

Oxford Road
Manchester, M13 9PL
United Kingdom

Raghav Gaiha

University of Pennsylvania, Population Studies Center, Students ( email )

PA
United States

Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?

Paper statistics

Downloads
122
Abstract Views
1,531
Rank
471,430
PlumX Metrics