This study analyzes mobility patterns during the COVID-19 pandemic for eight large Latin American cities. Indicators of mobility by socioeconomic status (SES) are generated by combining georeferenced mobile phone information with granular census data. Before the pandemic, a strong positive association between SES and mobility is documented. With the arrival of the pandemic, in most cases, a negative association between mobility and SES emerges. This new pattern is explained by a notably stronger reduction in mobility by high-SES individuals. A comparison of mobility for SES decile 1 vs decile 10 shows that, on average, the reduction is 75% larger in the case of decile 10. According to estimated lasso models, an indicator of government restrictions provides a parsimonious description of these heterogeneous responses. These estimations point to noticeable similarities in the patterns observed across cities. We also explore how the median distance traveled changed for individuals that travel at least 1 km (the intensive margin). We find that the reduction in mobility in this indicator was larger for high-SES individuals compared to low-SES individuals in six out of eight cities analyzed. The evidence is consistent with asymmetries in the feasibility of working from home and in the ability to smooth consumption under temporary income shocks.
This study examines the impact on human mobility of social distancing policies implemented in 18 Latin American and Caribbean countries in March 2020. We use cell phone data and variation across countries regarding the adoption of these policies and their timing to estimate effects on the percentage of people traveling more than 1 kilometer per day. Results indicate that lockdowns reduced mobility by 10 percentage points during the 15 days following its implementation. This accounts for a third of the decline in mobility between the first week in March and the first week in April in countries that implemented lockdowns. The effect during the second week of implementation is 28% lower compared to the effect documented during the first week. Additionally, we find that school closures reduced mobility by 4 percentage points, but no effects were found for bars and restaurants closures and the cancellation of public events.
JEL Classification Codes: C23, H12, I18
Antes de la pandemia, el ingreso y la movilidad estaban correlacionados positivamente. Concretamente, el porcentaje de personas que se desplazaban más de 1 km al día era 15 puntos porcentuales más alto entre las personas de ingresos altos que entre sus contrapartes de ingresos bajos. Al comienzo de la pandemia (entre abril y junio de 2020), ambos grupos experimentaron importantes reducciones de la movilidad. Sin embargo, las personas de ingresos altos redujeron la movilidad en 19 puntos porcentuales más comparadas con las personas de ingresos bajos. Estos patrones pueden atribuirse parcialmente al hecho de que las personas de ingresos altos tienen más probabilidades de tener empleos que puedan realizar de forma remota. También pueden tener más ahorros que les permitan dejar de trabajar si el teletrabajo no es viable.
The lockdowns implemented in Latin America and the Caribbean in March 2020 reduced the share of people who travel more than 1 km (about 0.6 miles) per day by 10 percentage points during the 15 days following its implementation. The effects of the lockdowns declined over time: the effect amounted to 12 percentage points during the first week and to 9 percentage points during the second week of the implementation of the lockdowns. In contrast, school closures reduced mobility by only 5 percentage points, and no effects were found for bar and restaurant closures or the cancellation of public events. The results suggest that lockdowns are a tool that can produce reductions in mobility quickly. This is important given the expectation that reduced mobility slows the spread of COVID-19.
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