Income Loss and Well-being during COVID-19 Lockdown in Rural Bangladesh: Evidence from Large Household Surveys

We conduct a large household survey immediately after the lockdown was imposed in response to the COVID-19 outbreak in Bangladesh. We then follow a random subset of households to examine the changing circumstances of rural households as the pandemic evolves. We find that nearly 90 per cent of these households experienced a negative income shock. Households that had lost their income completely were more worried about their finance and food, while households with no income loss were mostly concerned about the health of their family members. We also find evidence that households where day labourers are the main income earners mostly rely on loans and help from others to cope with the shocks. The overall findings suggest that households experiencing severe negative income shocks were less concerned about the health of their family members, which could further exacerbate the COVID-19 situation as the economic crisis has been deepening over time.