Pandemics, Mitigation Measures, and Environment

The paper studies the effects of mitigation measures on environment during a pandemic. Various mitigation measures such as business closures have been imposed to reduce health risks. Such measures also limit economic activities and reduce emissions. Measures disproportionately affect the contact-intensive sectors such as the leisure and hospitality industry, as their economic activities involve more person-to-person interactions. Thus, the extent of emission reduction depends on the severity of a measure and the size of the contact-intensive sectors. Using data on business and restaurant closures, school closures and bans on gatherings across 50 U.S. states during the Covid-19 pandemic, an empirical analysis shows that emissions decrease more in states with a more stringent measure and a larger share of the contact-intensive sectors. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10640-020-00535-9.