Mobility Shocks and Regional Wage Inequality: Evidence from Romania during the COVID-19 Lockdown
Description
County-level data on net average monthly wages and the number of employees, obtained from the Monthly Statistical Bulletins published by the Romanian National Institute of Statistics (NIS), were used to compute Gini coefficients for each of Romania’s eight development regions (North-West, Centre, North-East, South-East, South-Muntenia, Bucharest-Ilfov, South-West Oltenia, and West) and for the main economic sectors: agriculture, forestry and fishing; industry and construction; and services. The study period extends from January 2019 to July 2021, covering both the pre-pandemic period and the first waves of the COVID-19 crisis. The dataset includes Gini coefficients, changes in human mobility across six categories, namely (i) retail and recreation, (ii) grocery and pharmacy, (iii) parks, (iv) transit stations, (v) workplaces, and (vi) residential areas, based on the Google COVID-19 Community Mobility Reports. Additional variables collected at a monthly frequency include exports per capita, unemployment rates, and natural population growth, sourced from the Romanian National Institute of Statistics. Research hypotheses: H1: Demographic factors exert a statistically significant and stronger influence on income inequality during the COVID 19 health crisis compared to the pre pandemic period. H2: The determinants of intra regional wage disparity differ significantly across economic sectors, indicating sector specific inequality dynamics. H3: Reductions in human mobility associated with the COVID 19 pandemic have a positive and statistically significant effect on intra regional between county wage inequality. Findings provide evidence in support of the three proposed hypotheses.