Restrictions and effects observed during the first year of the Covid-19 Pandemic

Sammanfattning: Using the most recent data from various databases we have retrieved economic and health data from OECD member countries and analyzed it in regard to the Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker, what we call Stringency index. We examine the effects on different economic variables such as GDP, exports, and unemployment, together with the health outcome variable excess mortality. In regard to our different countries' restriction strategies, that is their Stringency Index. The main method we employed is bivariate plots and regression analysis. The investigation and analysis are solely made for the first year of the pandemic, 2020. Our results reveal that all of our variables are significant in at least one regression. The adjusted R2 value shows that the dependent variables can be explained by our independent variables ranging from 27 to 75 percent. The variables we most often find significant are: Excess mortality per 100,000, GDP and Stringency index. A considerable effort was made when selecting, retrieving, and processing the data for our purposes and to make it comparable between the countries chosen. Other aspects that undeniably impact the outcomes are mentioned and discussed but due to the complexity we chose to limit this research to a few variables with complete and comparable data. Our results show how the different outcomes are significant for the measurements taken but also how the measurements impact the outcomes in a bilateral relationship. The insights derived are hopefully useful for economists, politicians, and the public in concerns to the management of the Pandemic during its first year.