Economics Seminar Series - Locked Down in Distress with Dr Lina Anaya

Dr Lina Anaya from the University of Bradford discusses 'Locked Down in Distress: A Causal Estimation of the Mental-Health Fallout from the Covid-19 Pandemic in the UK'.

All are welcome to join our final Economic Seminar of the semester held via Zoom: Register here to attend

Abstract:

An extensive literature documents the economic impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, while a nascent one is beginning to detail the mental health impact. A limitation with existing work is that reported findings generally cannot be taken as causal estimates. In this study, we use a large-scale longitudinal survey coupled with a differences-in-differences research design to estimate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic for mental health. We find substantive estimated increases in psychological distress for the population overall during the first wave. These impacts were, however, not uniformly distributed with the costs in terms of mental health being much more pronounced for females, younger cohorts, members of the BAME community and migrants. A further unique feature of our study is that we looked to understand why people underwent such a significant decline in mental health during the first lockdown period. Our analysis would suggest that health anxiety, loneliness, financial worries and crowding stress all played an important role.

For further information about the event please contact Gabriel Burdin: g.burdin@leeds.ac.uk