A note from Merrill Lynch comparing Denmark and Sweden which points to a significant implication according to the analysts.

Denmark and Sweden

  • the two countries diverged significantly in terms of health care outcomes
  • Denmark had 95 deaths per million people
  • Sweden had 363 per million (among the highest COVID-19 mortality rates in the world)
  • difference points to a large healthcare benefit from lockdown policies

What about the economic costs?

  • consumer spending dropped by 25% in Sweden
  • by 29% in Denmark
  • The 4pp difference between the two declines quantifies the cost of lockdown policies
  • 4% of consumer spending is not trivial, it is a small share of the total decrease in consumer spending
  • Therefore the data indicate that most of the slowdown occurred due to voluntary social distancing rather than lockdown policies.

If the paper's results are applicable to other countries … implications:

  • Even as restrictions are lifted, consumer spending will likely remain highly impaired, with services getting hit the hardest
  • In summary, the economic downturn has been primarily because of the virus, not the policy response.

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'Services hit the hardest' is what we are seeing in the data for Asian countries that are ahead of the curve on recovery.