Top-Down and Bottom-Up Lockdown: Evidence from COVID-19 Prevention and Control in China

Utilizing national migration data regarding the outbreak of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), this paper employs a difference-in-differences approach to empirically analyze the relationship between human mobility and the transmission of infectious diseases in China. We show that national human mobility restrictions ascribed to the first-level public health emergency response policy effectively reduce both intercity and intracity migration intensities, thus leading to a declining scale of human mobility, which improves the effectiveness in controlling the epidemic. Human mobility restrictions have greater influences on cities with better economic development, denser populations, or larger passenger volumes. Moreover, mobility restriction measures are found to be better implemented in regions with increased public awareness, or with provincial leaders who have healthcare crisis management experience, local administrative experience, or the opportunity to serve a consecutive term.