abstract: 'We construct a quantitative model of an economy hit by a pandemic.

  People choose occupations and make work-from-home decisions to maximize

  income and minimize their fear of infection. Occupations differ by wage,

  infection risk, and the productivity loss when working from home. The

  model is calibrated to South Korea (SK) and the United Kingdom (UK) to

  compare SK''s intensive testing and quarantine policy against UK''s

  lockdown. We find that SK''s policies would have worked equally well in

  the UK, dramatically reducing both deaths and GDP losses. The key

  contrast between UK''s lockdown and SK''s policies was not in the

  intensity of testing, but weak restrictions on the activity of many (UK)

  versus strict restrictions on a targeted few (SK). Lockdowns themselves

  may not present a clear tradeoff between GDP and public health either. A

  premature lifting of the lockdown raises GDP temporarily, but infections

  rise over time and people voluntarily choose to work from home for fear

  of infection, generating a W-shaped recession. Finally, we find that

  low-skill workers and self-employed always lose the most from both the

  pandemic itself and containment policies. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All

  rights reserved.'
affiliation: 'Shin, Y (Corresponding Author), Washington Univ, Fed Reserve Bank St
  Louis, St Louis, MO 14263 USA.

  Shin, Y (Corresponding Author), NBER, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA.

  Aum, Sangmin, Myongii Univ, Seoul, South Korea.

  Lee, Sang Yoon (Tim), Queen Mary Univ London, London, England.

  Lee, Sang Yoon (Tim), CEPR, London, England.

  Shin, Yongseok, Washington Univ, Fed Reserve Bank St Louis, St Louis, MO 14263 USA.

  Shin, Yongseok, NBER, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA.'
article-number: '104354'
author: Aum, Sangmin and Lee, Sang Yoon (Tim) and Shin, Yongseok
author-email: 'aumsang@mju.ac.kr

  sylee.tim@qmul.ac.uk

  yshin@wustl.edu'
author_list:
- family: Aum
  given: Sangmin
- family: Lee
  given: Sang Yoon (Tim)
- family: Shin
  given: Yongseok
da: '2023-09-28'
doi: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2020.104354
earlyaccessdate: JAN 2021
files: []
issn: 0047-2727
journal: JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ECONOMICS
keywords: COVID-19; SIR model; Testing; Quarantine; Economic inequality
language: English
month: FEB
number-of-cited-references: '14'
orcid-numbers: Aum, Sangmin/0000-0002-4993-0562
papis_id: 2cba4e8c3e7284a6cca62003fb0e043c
ref: Aum2021inequalityfear
researcherid-numbers: Aum, Sangmin/AAQ-4147-2020
times-cited: '36'
title: 'Inequality of fear and self-quarantine: Is there a trade-off between GDP and
  public health?'
type: article
unique-id: WOS:000618690000009
usage-count-last-180-days: '5'
usage-count-since-2013: '26'
volume: '194'
web-of-science-categories: Economics
year: '2021'