A new GLO Discussion Paper using data for the Cook County in the USA establishes that Black individuals are affected earlier and more harshly by the disease and that the effect is driven by Black women. The Black female bias is associated with poverty and channeled by occupational segregation in the health care and transportation sectors and by commuting on public transport.
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GLO Discussion Paper No. 811, 2021
COVID-19, Race, and Gender – Download PDF
by Bertocchi, Graziella & Dimico, Arcangelo
GLO Fellows Graziella Bertocchi and Arcangelo Dimico
Graziella Bertocchi 
Arcangelo Dimico
Author Abstract: The mounting evidence on the demographics of COVID-19 fatalities points to an overrepresentation of minorities and an underrepresentation of women. Using individual-level, race-disaggregated, and georeferenced death data collected by the Cook County Medical Examiner, we jointly investigate the racial and gendered impact of COVID-19, its timing, and its determinants. Through an event study approach we establish that Black individuals are affected earlier and more harshly and that the effect is driven by Black women. Rather than comorbidity or aging, the Black female bias is associated with poverty and channeled by occupational segregation in the health care and transportation sectors and by commuting on public transport. Living arrangements and lack of health insurance are instead found not influential. The Black female bias is spatially concentrated in neighborhoods that were subject to historical redlining.
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GLO Discussion Papers are research and policy papers of the GLO Network which are widely circulated to encourage discussion. Provided in cooperation with EconStor, a service of the ZBW – Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, GLO Discussion Papers are among others listed in RePEc (see IDEAS, EconPapers). Complete list of all GLO DPs – downloadable for free.
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