. 2021 May 11;143(3):1251–1274. doi: 10.1016/j.jfineco.2021.05.009

Table 2.

Descriptive statistics for U.S. states.

In this table, we report the descriptive statistics for the variables we employ in our analysis of the U.S. states sample. Panel A reports state-specific time-varying variables, such as the state’s CDS spread, $C D S_{i t}$ , and the number of COVID-19 cases per 1000 people, $C o v i d C a s e s_{i t}$ . $C o v i d C a s e s_{i t}^{1 / m i l l i o n}$ ( $Δ C O V I D C a s e s_{i t}^{1 / m i l l i o n}$ ) is the number of COVID-19 infections per 1000 people (percentage change in $C o v i d C a s e s_{i t}$ ) following the initial spread of the coronavirus, which we define as there being more than one case per one million people. Panel B includes the cross-sectional variables, which, in our setting, are not time-varying. $D e b t / G D P_{i}$ is the ratio of total state debt to GDP. $E x p e n d i t u r e s / G D P_{i}$ measures the state’s expenditures as a fraction of the state’s GDP, while $I n t e r e s t / G D P$ is the ratio of state interest payment to GDP. $U n e m p l o y m e n t_{i}$ and $G D P G r o w t h_{i}$ capture a state’s current economic conditions. $U n f u n d e d P e n s i o n_{i}$ is the fraction of the state’s pension plan that is not funded bythe plan’s current assets. $R a t i n g_{i}$ represents the credit rating for a given state and ranges from one (the lowest rating) to seven (the highest rating). $D o c D e n s i t y$ is the number of doctors per 1000 people. $H e a l t h E x p / G D P_{i}$ is the overall economy’s expenditure in health-related goods and services as a fraction of GDP. $P o p E l d e r l y_{i}$ is the fraction of the population aged 65 and older. $S h a r e O b e s e_{i}$ is the share of adults that self-report as obese based on the body mass index. $P o p D e n s i t y$ is the number of people living in a country divided by the country’s area in square kilometers. The observations in Panel A are based on weekly averages. Our benchmark sample covers the period between January 1, 2020 and October 15, 2020. Further details on the variables and their sources are provided in Table A-1 of the Internet Appendix.

		Panel A: Time Series Variables
	N	Mean	Std	Min	P25	Median	P75	Max
$C D S_{i t}$	894	0.006	0.006	0.001	0.002	0.003	0.006	0.040
$C o v i d C a s e s_{i t}$	894	7.517	8.551	0.000	0.001	3.742	13.361	35.502
$C o v i d C a s e s_{i t}^{1 / m i l l i o n}$	667	10.076	8.499	0.001	2.273	8.585	16.609	35.502
$Δ C o v i d C a s e s_{i t}^{1 / m i l l i o n}$	657	0.961	2.755	-0.019	0.048	0.111	0.292	26.000

		Panel B: Cross-Sectional Variables

	N	Mean	Std	Min	P25	Median	P75	Max

$D e b t / G D P_{i}$	23	6.495	3.320	2.045	4.460	6.385	7.222	14.457
$E x p e n d i t u r e s / G D P_{i}$	23	12.219	2.450	8.757	10.493	12.305	13.555	19.833
$I n t e r e s t / G D P_{i}$	23	0.243	0.129	0.078	0.126	0.219	0.306	0.574
$U n e m p l o y m e n t_{i}$	23	3.895	0.536	2.942	3.458	3.983	4.258	4.858
$G D P G r o w t h_{i}$	23	5.093	1.261	2.760	4.440	4.700	5.440	8.220
$U n f u n d e d P e n s i o n_{i}$	23	28.957	17.760	-3.000	17.000	26.000	40.000	64.000
$R a t i n g_{i}$	23	5.478	1.675	1.000	4.000	6.000	7.000	7.000
$D o c D e n s i t y_{i}$	23	3.291	0.889	2.062	2.606	3.125	3.973	5.481
$H e a l t h E x p / G D P_{i}$	23	13.606	2.405	10.357	11.974	13.199	15.653	20.757
$P o p E l d e r l y_{i}$	23	16.130	2.029	11.000	15.000	16.000	17.000	21.000
$S h a r e O b e s e_{i}$	23	30.852	3.378	25.700	27.800	30.900	33.000	39.500
$P o p u l a t i o n D e n s i t y_{i}$	23	117.729	112.627	9.498	39.074	78.224	158.765	461.585