Skip to main content
. 2020 Oct 17;220(1):23–62. doi: 10.1016/j.jeconom.2020.09.003

Table 6.

Direct and indirect policy effects without national case/death variables.

Cases

Direct Indirect Total PIY Coef. Average Difference

masks for employees −0.090 0.043 −0.047 −0.083 −0.065 0.036
(0.031) (0.028) (0.043) (0.038) (0.040) (0.015)
closed K-12 schools −0.074 −0.374 −0.448 −0.226 −0.337 −0.223
(0.080) (0.095) (0.116) (0.086) (0.098) (0.055)
stay at home −0.063 −0.034 −0.096 −0.127 −0.112 0.031
(0.049) (0.029) (0.055) (0.058) (0.056) (0.015)
business closure policies 0.051 −0.153 −0.101 −0.076 −0.089 −0.025
(0.062) (0.045) (0.068) (0.067) (0.067) (0.021)
jPolicyj −0.176 −0.517 −0.693 −0.512 −0.603 −0.181
(0.129) (0.145) (0.182) (0.147) (0.162) (0.061)
ΔlogΔCit 0.015 0.012 0.027 0.040 0.033 −0.013
(0.026) (0.009) (0.025) (0.025) (0.025) (0.007)
logΔCit −0.105 −0.045 −0.150 −0.137 −0.144 −0.013
(0.018) (0.015) (0.025) (0.021) (0.023) (0.008)

Deaths

Direct Indirect Total PIY Coef. Average Difference

masks for employees −0.146 0.035 −0.111 −0.134 −0.122 0.022
(0.049) (0.000) (0.049) (0.051) (0.049) (0.021)
closed K-12 schools −0.232 −0.420 −0.653 −0.610 −0.632 −0.042
(0.095) (0.084) (0.111) (0.109) (0.109) (0.023)
stay at home −0.066 −0.008 −0.073 −0.082 −0.078 0.008
(0.068) (0.031) (0.067) (0.067) (0.067) (0.016)
business closure policies 0.098 −0.163 −0.065 −0.059 −0.062 −0.006
(0.000) (0.065) (0.065) (0.086) (0.061) (0.089)
jPolicyj −0.346 −0.557 −0.902 −0.885 −0.894 −0.018
(0.122) (0.137) (0.156) (0.157) (0.147) (0.106)
ΔlogΔDit 0.016 −0.040 −0.024 −0.001 −0.012 −0.023
(0.034) (0.011) (0.030) (0.032) (0.031) (0.005)
logΔDit −0.055 −0.015 −0.070 −0.078 −0.074 0.009
(0.024) (0.009) (0.028) (0.026) (0.027) (0.005)

Direct effects capture the effect of policy on case growth holding behavior, information, and confounders constant. Direct effects are given by Inline graphic in Eq. (BPI→Y). Indirect effects capture how policy changes behavior and behavior shift case growth. They are given by Inline graphic from (BPI→Y) times Inline graphic from (PI→B). The total effect is Inline graphic . Column “PIY Coefficients” shows the coefficient estimates from (PI→Y). Columns “Difference” are the differences between the estimates from (PI→Y) and the combination of (BPI→Y) and (PI→B) while column “Average” are their averages. Standard errors are computed by bootstrap and clustered on state.