Answer to Question #129901 in Economics for YASH

Question

What is the effect of pandemic on poverty in India?

Answer 1

First, there is a smaller proportion of the elderly for whom targeted isolation is effective; in addition, living, as a rule, in large families of several generations is unlikely to provide this isolation.

Second, the extremely low capacity of hospitals and intensive care units means that measures to flatten the mortality curve are unlikely to prevent hospital congestion.

Third, the opportunity cost of social distancing is higher in poor countries: that is, better-off people can more easily meet their needs when isolated, while for the poor, it is possible that the priority of earning income will be higher simply because they have to eat something.