How Effective are Policy Interventions Against the COVID-19 Infection Rates?

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15408/etk.v22i1.28486

Keywords:

covid-19, infection rates, permanent shock, transitory shock, unit root

Abstract

Studies on the COVID-19 pandemic are more likely to concentrate on the effects of the virus while ignoring its time-series characteristics, particularly its stationarity characteristics. Thus, this study attempts to investigate the effectiveness of policy interventions against COVID-19 by determining the permanent or transitory effects in 5 major regions and the ten most infected countries. Using the endogenous multiple breaks unit root tests introduced by Kapetanios (2005), the findings indicate that only the impacts of shocks to COVID-19 infection rates in France are likely to be permanent. However, the transitory effect is found in Brazil, Germany, Iran, Italy, Russia, Spain, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The country where the shock has a permanent impact is suitable for policy interventions, including lockdowns, social isolation, and local isolation. While herd immunity, which protects the entire population against COVID-19, is better ideal for application in countries that experience shocks with a transitory effect.

JEL Classification: C1, I15, I18

How to Cite:
Tang, C.F., & Tan, B.W. (2023). How Effective are Policy Interventions Against the COVID-19 Infection Rates? Etikonomi, 22(1), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.15408/etk.v22i1.28486.

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Author Biographies

  • Chor Foon Tang, Universiti Sains Malaysia
    Chor Foon TANG is currently an Associate Professor of Economics at the Centre for Policy Research and International Studies (CenPRIS), Universiti Sains Malaysia. Recently, he is also appointed as the Adjunct Professor at Universitas Sebelas Maret, Indonesia. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from University of Malaya. His research interests focus mainly on Macroeconomics, Economic Development, and the Catalysts for Growth including tourism, energy consumption, direct investment, and savings through time series and panel data econometric modelling. He has published over 100 research articles worldwide and his research work appeared in various major academic journals including Econmics Letters, Empirical Economics, Energy Economics, Energy, Applied Energy, Applied Economics, Tourism Management, Current Issues in Tourism, and others. Besides, he is also the Editor of several prestigious scholarly journals, including the International Journal of Social Economics, International Journal of Tourism Policy, Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Administration, FIIB Business Review, and other outlets. Credit to his outstanding achievements in research, the Research Papers in Economics (RePEc) ranked him as the Top 3% Economist in both Malaysia and ASEAN. More recently, he also received acknowledgement from Stanford University in the United States as one of the Top 2% Scientists in the World.
  • Bee Wah Tan, Universiti Utara Malaysia
    Bee Wah, Tan is a Senior Lecturer in School of Economics, Finance and Banking, Universiti Utara Malaysia. She received her Ph.D. (Economics) from the Universiti of Sains Malaysia in 2017. Her research focuses on economic development and growth. Her research work has seen print in, Economic Modelling, Economia Politica, Energy, Journal of Economic Cooperation & Development, Geosystem Engineering, International Journal of Business & Society, Journal of Business Economics & Management, Quality & Quantity, Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews and The Empirical Economics Letter.

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Published

2023-03-04

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How to Cite

How Effective are Policy Interventions Against the COVID-19 Infection Rates?. (2023). ETIKONOMI, 22(1), 1-14. https://doi.org/10.15408/etk.v22i1.28486