The coronavirus outbreak has caused significant disruptions to people’s lives. We document the impact of state-wide stay-at-home orders on mental health using real time survey data in the US. The lockdown measures lowered mental health by 0.085 standard deviations. This large negative effect is entirely driven by women. As a result of the lockdown measures, the existing gender gap in mental health has increased by 66%. The negative effect on women’s mental health cannot be explained by an increase in financial worries or childcare responsibilities.
Publication Type
              Working Paper
          File Description
              First version, May 6, 2020
          JEL Codes
          I10: Health, Education, and Welfare, General
          I14: Health and Inequality
          I18: Health: Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
          I30: Welfare and Poverty: General