巨大的不平等：新冠疫情在美国的初始健康影 响.docxVIP

NBER WORKING PAPER SERIES THE GREAT UNEQUALIZER: INITIAL HEALTH EFFECTS OF COVID-19 IN THE UNITED STATES Marcella Alsan Amitabh Chandra Kosali I. Simon Working Paper 28958 /papers/w28958 NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH 1050 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138 June 2021 We thank Cong Gian, Joyce Kim, and Nikhil Shankar for excellent research assistance. Mary Bassett, David Cutler, Ryan Edwards, Ronald Lee, Maria Polyakova, and Jonathan Skinner provided helpful comments. We thank Erik Hurst, Heidi Williams, and Timothy Taylor for very useful comments and suggestions on a previous draft of the paper. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research. NBER working papers are circulated for discussion and comment purposes. They have not been peer-reviewed or been subject to the review by the NBER Board of Directors that accompanies official NBER publications. ? 2021 by Marcella Alsan, Amitabh Chandra, and Kosali I. Simon. All rights reserved. Short sections of text, not to exceed two paragraphs, may be quoted without explicit permission provided that full credit, including ? notice, is given to the source. The Great Unequalizer: Initial Health Effects of COVID-19 in the United States Marcella Alsan, Amitabh Chandra, and Kosali I. Simon NBER Working Paper No. 28958 June 2021 JEL No. I1,I14,I18,J1,J78,N0 ABSTRACT We measure inequities from the COVID-19 pandemic on mortality and hospitalizations in the United States during the early months of the outbreak. We discuss challenges in measuring health outcomes and health inequality, some of which are specific to COVID-19 and others that complicate attribution during most large health shocks. As in past epidemics, pre-existing biological and social vulnerabilities profoundly influenced the distribution of disease. In addition to