Welfare Costs of Travel Reductions within the U.S. due to COVID-19
Regional Science, Policy and Practice, Forthcoming
32 Pages Posted: 28 Apr 2020 Last revised: 28 May 2021
Date Written: May 14, 2021
Abstract
Using daily county-level travel data within the U.S., this paper investigates the welfare costs of travel reductions due to COVID-19 for the period between January 20th and September 5th, 2020. Welfare of individuals (related to their travel) is measured by their inter-county and intra-county travel, where travel costs are measured by the corresponding distance measures. Important transport policy implications follow regarding how policy makers can act to mitigate welfare costs of travel reductions without worsening the COVID-19 spread.
Keywords: COVID-19, Travel Reductions, Welfare Costs, U.S. Counties
JEL Classification: J61, I10, I31, R11, R13
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation