New research article by Péter Elek, Anikó Bíró and Petra Fadgyas-Freyler in Health Economics

07/14/2021 | 14:22
New research article by Péter Elek, Anikó Bíró and Petra Fadgyas-Freyler in Health Economics

Early View - First published: 3 July 2021

Income gradient of pharmaceutical panic buying at the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic

Péter Elek, Anikó Bíró, Petra Fadgyas-Freyler

Abstract

We analyze the timing, magnitude, and income dependence of pharmaceutical panic buying around the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in Hungary. We use district-level monthly and daily administrative data on detailed categories of pharmaceutical purchases, merge them to income statistics, and estimate multilevel panel models. Our main results are as follows. First, the days of therapy (DOT) of pharmaceutical purchases increased by more than 30% in March 2020, when major lockdown measures were announced. This pattern holds for almost all categories of pharmaceuticals. Second, shortly after the panic reactions, the aggregate amount of pharmaceutical purchases returned to their preshock levels; however, the frequency of pharmacy visits decreased. Third, the panic buying reaction was significantly stronger in richer geographical areas, where—according to the daily data—people also reacted earlier to the pandemic-related news. Overall, the results suggest that panic buying of pharmaceuticals can have detrimental effects on vulnerable populations.

« Back to list

Events

M

Tu

W

Th

F

S

Su

26
27
28
29
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
2024 March

Featured news

New study by Ágnes Óvári and co-authors in Waste Management scientific journal

New study by Ágnes Óvári and co-authors in Waste Management scientific journal This study focuses on a comprehensive sustainability assessment of the management of the organic fraction of municipal solid waste in Ghent (Belgium), Hamburg (Germany) and Pécs (Hungary). A sustainability assessment framework has been applied to analyse social, environmental, and economic consequences at the midpoint level (25 impact categories) and at the endpoint level (5 areas-of-protection).

Book chapter by Ágnes Szunomár and Tamás Peragovics in Western Balkans Playbook - Competition for influence among foreign actors

Book chapter by Ágnes Szunomár and Tamás Peragovics in Western Balkans Playbook - Competition for influence among foreign actors Edited by: Gergely Varga and Tamás Levente Molnár Published by the Institute for Foreign Affairs and Trade (Budapest, 2021)

Conference presentations by Zoltán Bakucs, Lajos Baráth, Zsófia Benedek and Imre Fertő on the 16th Congress of the European Association of Agricultural Economists

Conference presentations by Zoltán Bakucs, Lajos Baráth, Zsófia Benedek and Imre Fertő on the 16th Congress of the European Association of Agricultural Economists After its postponement due to the Covid-19 crisis, the Congress took place 20-23 July 2021 in an online format. The theme was: Raising the Impact of Agricultural Economics: Multidisciplinarity, Stakeholder Engagement and Novel Approaches

More news »