Peer-reviewed article
The subjective treatment effects of COVID-19 on child well-being: evidence from Luxembourg
Francesco Andreoli, Claudine Kirsch, Eugenio Peluso, Vincenzo Prete ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined how children in Luxembourg perceived COVID-19's effects on their well-being in spring 2021. Children reported negative impacts on their subjective health, schooling outcomes, and family interaction time. The research used survey questions asking children to compare what actually happened with what they believed would have happened without COVID-19. The study explores why some children experienced different effects than others.
Key points
- Children reported negative subjective effects of COVID-19 on their health
- Schooling outcomes were negatively affected according to children's assessments
- COVID-19 disrupted time spent interacting with family
- The study used children's own comparisons of actual versus counterfactual outcomes
- Heterogeneity in effects across different groups was explored
Limitations
This study relies on children's subjective perceptions and retrospective comparisons rather than objective measurements or longitudinal baseline data. The findings capture only children's beliefs about counterfactual outcomes, which may not reflect actual causal effects of COVID-19.
Abstract
Abstract Estimating the impact of COVID-19 on the multiple dimensions of child well-being requires quasi-random variation in exposure to it, which is unlikely to occur during a pandemic. Recent developments in econometrics have highlighted the relevance of subjective evaluations of treatment effects in the absence of randomization. This paper delivers new evidence, based on primary data collected in Luxembourg in Spring 2021 about their subjective appraisal of the effects of COVID-19 on multiple dimensions of children’s well-being. Effects are recovered through specific survey questions, asking children to compare actual outcomes with counterfactual ones, that they believe would have occurred in the absence of COVID-19. Children report negative effects of COVID-19 on subjective health and on schooling outcomes, as well as disruptions on the time used to interact with the family. The paper explores the sources of heterogeneity behind these results.