A New Dataset for Local and National COVID-19-Related Restrictions in Italy

Abstract

This paper presents a novel dataset of non-pharmaceutical interventions adopted by Italian authorities to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic at the national and local levels. The dataset follows the structure of the Oxford Coronavirus Government Response Tracker (Hale et al., 2021). However, we improve its coverage for Italy along several dimensions. First, we tailor the classification of provisions to the measures adopted in the country. Second, we collect detailed information on local restrictions, including lockdowns and school closures. Third, we apply a bottom-up approach to construct population-weighted average stringency indexes (Italian Stringency Indexes, ItSIs) at the provincial, regional, and country-wide levels. While expanding the geographical coverage of the stringency indicators, we preserve the comparability of the ItSIs with the original stringency index published in the OxCGRT. As an application, we show that the correlations of our ItSI with community mobility indicators and various measures of economic activity are higher than those obtained with the OxCGRT indicator.

Note:
Funding: Not applicable.

Declaration of Interests: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Keywords: Covid-19, non-pharmaceutical interventions, Italian stringency index, local restrictions

JEL Classification: H12,H51,I18