THE COVID-19 LOCKDOWN EFFECTS ON MENTAL WELL-BEING AND RELIGIOSITY: EVIDENCE FROM INDONESIA

We investigate the effects of COVID-19 lockdowns on frequency of online search on mental well-being and religiosity-related terms in Indonesia using high-frequency data from Google Trends and Bank Indonesia Consumer Survey from January 1st, 2018, to February 28th, 2021. Monthly search terms and consumer survey data are merged at the provincial level, which results in a total of 131,300 individual observations. Using event analysis and instrumental variable approaches, our study suggests that lockdown policy is significantly associated with higher search intensity of mental well-being and religiosity-related terms compared to the pre-lockdown period. Our findings suggest that mentally disturbed people tend to lean on religion to cope with stressful events during a crisis. Our study has substantial policy implications on ensuring appropriate government interventions that minimize the detrimental effect of COVID-19 on mental well-being. © 2023 University of Ljubljana - Veterinary Faculty. All rights reserved.

The impact of COVID-19 on the labour market and the role of E-commerce development in developing countries: Evidence from Indonesia

This paper assesses the impact of covid-19 pandemic, measured through work mobility reduction, and e-commerce growth on the labour market using data from Indonesian labour force surveys and e-commerce transaction values. The findings confirm that the pandemic adversely affects workers' employment prospects, work hours, total earnings, and hourly earnings. E-commerce growth does not counteract the adverse impact of the pandemic as expected, but it plays a role as an employment buffer during the crisis, although it tends to suppress workers' earnings. Our results imply that more efforts are needed to improve the productivity of workers involved in e-commerce. © 2023 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.