TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Chen, Simiao
AU  - Jin, Zhangfeng
AU  - Bloom, David E.
        TI  - Act Early to Prevent Infections and Save Lives: Causal Impact of Diagnostic Efficiency on the COVID-19 Pandemic
        PY  - 2020/Sep/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 13749
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/index.php/publications/dp13749
        AB  - This paper examines the impact of diagnostic efficiency on the COVID-19 pandemic. Using an exogenous policy on diagnostic confirmation, we show that a one- day decrease in the time taken to confirm the first case in a city publicly led to 9.4% and 12.7% reductions in COVID-19 prevalence and mortality over the subsequent six months, respectively. The impact is larger for cities that are farther from the COVID-19 epicenter, are exposed to less migration, and have more responsive public health systems. Social distancing and a less burdened health system are likely the underlying mechanisms, while the latter also explains the more profound impact on reducing deaths than reducing infections.
        KW  - diagnostic efficiency
KW  - information disclosure
KW  - social distancing
KW  - COVID-19
KW  - China
KW  - instrumental variable
        ER  -