The Relationship between Pandemic Circumstances and Socioeconomic Factors and Implications for the Government

ABSTRACT

Research Objective: This research explores the role that socioeconomic factors play on the pandemic development and it provides government with public control implications. Theoretical background: Government of different regions responds to the pandemic with various government policies and interventions. Meanwhile, socioeconomic factors that are long-term results of government policies also impact the development of the pandemic in different regions. We study how these socioeconomic factors are related with the COVID-19 pandemic development. Research Design: Using data from IBGE - Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, Ministry of Health, and Santa Catarina State Department of Health, we conduct a set of regression analyses at the municipality-level using socioeconomic factors as independent variables, and log-transformed confirmed COVID-19 cases and confirmed COVID-19 deaths as dependent variables. Results: We identify several significant indicators of pandemic outcomes and we find that municipalities in the Brazilian state with more basic health units, higher bedroom density, higher autonomy level of municipal revenue tend to have more confirmed cases and deaths due to COVID-19. We also find other socioeconomic factors including sanitation condition and age group diversity as important indicators of COVID-19 confirmed cases and deaths. Originality This research is one of the first to understand the impact of socioeconomic factors on the development of the COVID-19 pandemic and it utilizes unique datasets that have not been used by other studies to our best knowledge. Practical and theorical contributions The deliverables of this research will improve the understanding of the ongoing pandemic, predict the pandemic development trend, and prepare the policymakers with improved information provisioning by pointing out the significant impacts of socioeconomic factors.