University Honors

The COVID-19 pandemic (2019-2023) triggered an unprecedented global health and economic crisis. Governments worldwide implemented various levels of quarantine and lockdown measures to prevent the virus’s spread. To understand how different policies might influence their economy, this study makes a comparative analysis of China and the United States. By using regression analysis and spatial autocorrelation diagnostics, we assess the relationship between the strictness of quarantine policy and two economic indicators (unemployment rate and housing price index). The findings show marked differences between the two nations. For the U.S., we found that dummy variable states, workplace closing, international control, and eight other quarantine measures were significant predictors of the unemployment rate of the U.S.. However, only two policy variables were significant in China’s case, potentially reflecting the impact of centralized enforcement in mitigating the economic disruptions. These findings can provide policymakers with a better reference for adjusting their policy and facing this kind of infectious disease again in the future.