Hidden Costs of a Health Crisis: Research on Social Welfare Disruptions in India During the Covid-19 Pandemic

The Covid-19 pandemic and resulting lockdowns have disproportionately upended the lives of vulnerable communities in low- and middle-income countries. Beyond surges in infections, pandemic-induced income shocks, government school closures, and healthcare disruptions have compelled disadvantaged households to contend with economic uncertainty, learning losses, food insecurity, and poor mental health.    

In times of crisis, robust social welfare is crucial for alleviating these myriad stresses for groups who often lack access to adequate information and resources.

This webinar explores findings from five research projects across India that attempt to understand the hidden costs of the pandemic borne by underserved communities. Presenters will also delve into the implications of these disruptions for the design of future social programmes as well as emerging evidence to help tackle the adverse impacts of the pandemic.

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J-PAL affiliated professors will present insights from data collected following the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic along the following dimensions:

• Education: Student learning and psychological well-being in Assam, India (preliminary results) and disruptions to preschool education in Odisha, India.
• Essential non-Covid health services:  Disruptions to routine child and maternal healthcare services in Odisha, India and the takeup of immunization and dialysis care under a free government insurance scheme in Rajasthan.

The researchers will also unpack evidence from studies that evaluate the effectiveness of policies that aim to:

• Alleviate economic uncertainty and the mental health impact of the pandemic in Tamil Nadu, India.
• Encourage the adoption of Covid-19 preventive health behaviours through text message campaigns in Bihar, India.

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This webinar, hosted by J-PAL South Asia’s Cash Transfers for Child Health Initiative, is a part of the ongoing event series, Improving India's healthcare: Insights from Six Years of On-the-Ground Research.

Speakers

Andrea Guariso (Presenter)
Senior Assistant Professor of Economics, University of Milano-Bicocca

Andrea is an applied economist with prime interest in development and political economics.

Camilla Holmemo (Discussant)
Practice Leader, Human Development, India, The World Bank

Camilla is the World Bank Practice Leader for Human Development in India, where she coordinates and leads work on health, education, and social protection.

Gautam Rao (Presenter)
Associate Professor, Harvard University

Gautam's research brings insights from psychology to topics in economics, particularly those relevant to developing countries.

Kevin Carney (Presenter)
PhD Candidate, Harvard University

Kevin is a development economist whose research focuses on political economy and behavioral economics.

Radhika Jain (Presenter)
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Stanford University

Radhika is a health economist working on public health policy in India. Her research focuses on the role of the private sector in the health system, frictions in health care markets, socioeconomic and gender inequality, and health policy design.

Saravana Ravindran (Presenter)
Assistant Professor, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore

Saravana Ravindran is an applied microeconomist with research interests in the economics of developing countries. His research focuses on the formation and movement of human capital. He has a keen interest in early childhood development programs, their direct and indirect impacts, and aggregate welfare consequences.

Sebastian Bauhoff (Presenter)
Assistant Professor of Global Health and Economics, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Sebastian Bauhoff’s research focuses on innovations in health care financing and service delivery that can increase access, efficiency, and quality of care in low and middle-income countries. He also examines ways to improve the design and implementation of health care policies and programs.

Urvashi Wattal (Moderator)
Senior Policy and Training Manager, J-PAL South Asia

Urvashi supports J-PAL South Asia’s efforts to promote evidence-based policymaking and build capacity for monitoring and evaluations in the region.