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Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/2445/199542
Slums and Pandemics
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How do slums shape the economic and health dynamics of pandemics? A difference-in-differences analysis using millions of mobile phones in Brazil shows that residents of overcrowded slums engaged in less social distancing after the outbreak of Covid-19. We develop and calibrate a choice-theoretic equilibrium model in which individuals are heterogeneous in income and some people live in high-density slums. Slum residents account for a disproportionately high number of infections and deaths and, without slums, deaths increase in non-slum neighborhoods. Policy analysis of reallocation of medical resources, lockdowns and cash transfers produce heterogeneous effects across groups. Policy simulations indicate that: reallocating medical resources cuts deaths and raises output and the welfare of both groups; mild lockdowns favor slum individuals by mitigating the demand for hospital beds, whereas strict confinements mostly delay the evolution of the pandemic; and cash transfers benefit slum residents to the detriment of others, highlighting important distributional effects.
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BROTHERHOOD, Luiz, et al. Slums and Pandemics. Journal of Development Economics. 2022. Vol. 157, num. 102882, pags. 1-18. ISSN 0304-3878. [consulted: 16 of June of 2026]. Available at: https://hdl.handle.net/2445/199542