COEP Replication Package for "The Effects of COVID-19 Policies on Consumer Spending in Norway"

This repository provides the replication files for the article "<span>The Effects of COVID-19 Policies on Consumer Spending in Norway" by Fenella Carpena, Laurens Swinkels, and Dan Zhang. <br><br><b>Abstract: </b></span>We examine the effect of COVID-19 policies on consumer spending using bankcard transactions from Norway. Exploiting variation in COVID-19 policies over time and across space in the four largest municipalities, we investigate the heterogeneity of policy effects in their <i>number</i> and<i> type</i>. First, we document that the number of restrictions is negatively correlated with spending and exhibits decreasing marginal effects. Second, restrictions do not affect all types of spending equally: restrictions tend to have larger impacts on the sector in which they are targeted. Finally, we find evidence from a difference-in-differences estimation that supports a causal interpretation of our results.