Impact of COVID-19 on Onion Prices and Volatility Across Spatially Separated Markets of India: Evidence from Regression Discontinuity Design
Price: ₹ 500
Author: Babita Kathayat , A.G. Adeeth Cariappa , and Darshnaben P. Mahida
Author Address: Research Scholar, Division of Dairy Economics, Statistics and Management, ICAR – National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal-132001 (Haryana), Young Professional, Agriculture and Allied Sectors Vertical, NITI Aayog, New Delhi-110001 (Delhi), and Senior Rese
Keywords: COVID-19, GARCH, impact, onion prices, price volatility, regression discontinuity.
JEL Codes: B23, C32, Q13, Q11.
Abstract
The study evaluated the immediate impact of
COVID-19 induced lockdown on onion wholesale prices across 11 states of India. Daily
weighted average prices from 1 February 2019 to 30 July 2020 were used. Results
of the GARCH model revealed that price volatility increased in all the states
while its persistence was higher in 6 out of the 11 states studied
post-lockdown. Regression Discontinuity (RD) estimated further revealed a
significant price rise (9 to 34 per cent) shortly after the lockdown in most states
except UP, Punjab and Rajasthan. Our findings are reliable and valid as the
estimates pass several robustness tests. The study contributed to the
accumulating evidence of severe supply chain disruptions taking place
immediately after lockdown leading to a short-term price spike of essential
commodities like an onion.
Description
Indian Journal of Economics and Development
Volume 18 No. 3, 2022, 627-636
DOI: https://doi.org/10.35716/IJED/21216
NAAS Score: 5.15 (2022)
Indexed in Clarivate Analytics (ESCI) of WoS
Indexed in Scopus (SJR: 0.18)
UGC Approved (UGC-Care List Group II)