Income loss and wellbeing during COVID-19 lockdown in rural Bangladesh: Evidence from large household surveys

Lead researchers:

Tabassum Rahman, University of Newcastle, Australia
Firoz Ahmed, Khulna University, Bangladesh
Debayan Pakrashi, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, India
Abu Siddique, Technical University of Munich, Germany
Asad Islam, Monash University, Australia

Partners: Monash University, Australia

Timeline: April 2020 to December 2021

Status: Complete

Method: Quantitative

The overview of the project:

The COVID-19 outbreak has changed the world with widespread lockdown and large scale jobs and income losses. Millions of people worldwide, particularly those employed in the informal sectors in the developing countries, have lost their jobs and their only source of income. The households where day laborers are the main income earners mostly rely on loans and help from others to cope with the shock. The loss of employment, therefore, appears to be the most immediate impact of the crisis.
However, in this regard, with the collaboration of Monash University, Australia; Khulna University, Bangladesh; Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, India; Technical University of Munich, Germany and Monash University, Australia we are conducting a large household survey immediately after the lockdown in response to COVID-19 outbreak in the southwestern region of Bangladesh
We are following up a random subset of households to examine the changing circumstances of rural households as the pandemic evolves. The primary objectives of the projects are the following:
– To examine the condition of rural households during the lockdown
-To explore the income shocks largely due to the COVID-19 outbreak, and
-To investigate the incidence of wellbeing measured in terms of concerns or worries related to different aspects of life