Short Term Pain Long Term Gain: Effectiveness Analysis of Stringency for COVID-19 Across States in India

The aim of the study is to assess the impact of stringent lockdown policy on health and economic outcomes by constructing a stringency index at the State level in India. Results shows that stringent policy led to containment of spread as well as lowering of casualties related to COVID-19 across States. On economic front also, three-month moving average of the stringency index has a positive relationship with the growth in each of the economic indicators. Thus, study infers that India transformed the short-term trade-off between lives and livelihoods into a win-win in the medium to long-term that saves both lives and livelihoods.