A trade-off between lives and the economy? Subsidizing dining out under the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan
研究了日本疫情期间外出就餐补贴对人口流动和疫情传播的影响，发现补贴缓解了餐饮业人流下降，但未显著加剧疫情扩散，为平衡经济与健康提供了证据。
• We investigate the trade-off between economic and health impacts. • We examine Japan’s subsidy for dining out (GTE) during the COVID-19 pandemic. • Use nationwide 500-meter mesh data to estimate the impact on population mobility. • GTE mitigated a negative impact on population mobility in restaurant areas. • GTE had little association with the spread of COVID-19 afterward. We investigate how a government subsidy for dining out to support the restaurant industry has been associated with economic and health outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan. Using nationwide 500-meter mesh data, we demonstrate that Japan’s Go To Eat scheme, which was gradually introduced across all prefectures beginning in October 2020, mitigated the negative impact of the pandemic on population mobility in restaurant areas, while having little association with the spread of COVID-19 afterward. The influence was particularly large for population mobility within a prefecture and in restaurant areas near train stations. The scheme also had diminishing positive spillover effects around the restaurant areas. The findings imply that such a subsidy can be a balanced policy response to the pandemic once epidemiological factors are properly managed.