Income inequality and COVID-19 in the USA

ABSTRACT

This study aimed to analyze the effects of inequality in income distribution, gender, race and education on incidence and mortality rates of COVID-19 in the USA. For this purpose, a cross-sectional model was estimated for a sample of 2805 US counties. The results obtained allow us to conclude that inequality in all its aspects posed a risk factor for incidence rate and, particularly, for mortality from COVID-19. Other results obtained show that access to healthcare, education attained, ease of adaptation to teleworking, vaccination and healthy lifestyle habits were key factors affecting incidence and mortality.

KEYWORDS:

• COVID-19
• inequality
• income
• racial segregation
• gender

Acknowledgements

Ignacio Amate-Fortes and Almudena Guarnido-Rueda are grateful for the suggestions received during a research visit to the Department of Economics at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Obamacare is the popular name given to The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), also known as the Affordable Care Act (ACA). It was enacted in March 2010 and reduced the number of uninsured individuals in the USA by about 20 million.

2. These coefficients estimate each specific measure of inequality included in each model and are listed at the top of each column.

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by the European Union, Junta de Andalucía and University of Almeria [Reference No. UAL-FEDER 2020, UAL2020-SEJ-D1999].