Regressive income shocks during India’s Covid-19 lockdown: evidence from two surveys

Basole, Amit and Shrivastava, Anand and Kulkarni, Jay and Arora, Akshit (2026) Regressive income shocks during India’s Covid-19 lockdown: evidence from two surveys. Applied Economics Letters. pp. 1-5. ISSN 1350-4851

Full text not available from this repository. (Request a copy)

Abstract

Studies based on the Consumer Pyramids Household Survey (CPHS) in India have shown that the impact of the nationwide lockdown in 2020 on household incomes was progressive in nature – richer households suffered more. But several media reports as well as purposive surveys carried out during the pandemic suggest that the poor suffered more than the rich. In this paper, we show that the conclusion of progressivity is sensitive to the base period used for comparisons. Previous studies have used the Oct–Dec 2019 quarter as the base for comparison to find that the lockdown was progressive in its impact. We show that ongoing changes in the income distribution in urban India between Oct–Dec 2019 and Jan–Mar 2020 quarters are progressive and hence confound the subsequent regressivity. We find that, if compared to the quarter immediately preceding it, the lockdown was regressive in nature. We also verify this conclusion using another survey, the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS). Our findings have implications for understanding the distributional impact of the Covid-19 lockdown in India.

Item Type:	Article
Authors:	Basole, Amit and Shrivastava, Anand and Kulkarni, Jay and Arora, Akshit
Document Language:	Language English
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Covid-19, lockdown, income, distribution, India
Subjects:	Social sciences > Economics > Labor economics > Labor force and market Social sciences > Economics > Macroeconomics & related topics Social sciences > Economics > Macroeconomics & related topics > Factors affecting income and wealth > Poverty
Divisions:	Azim Premji University - Bengaluru > School of Arts and Sciences
Full Text Status:	None
URI:	http://publications.azimpremjiuniversity.edu.in/id/eprint/7655
Publisher URL:	https://doi.org/10.1080/13504851.2026.2685216

Actions (login required)

View Item