Public assistance, survival, and household trust during the containment period of the first wave of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in Togo

Abstract

This paper analyzes the impact of public assistance during the first wave of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic with regard to household survival, using data from a two-round survey of 1274 respondents in Togo conducted by the National Institute of Statistics, Economic and Demographic Studies. The analysis uses the propensity score matching method, the probit model, and the discrete endogenous regressor. The first result shows that more than two thirds of respondents experienced income shocks due to the health crisis. The second result shows that public assistance programs have enabled the beneficiary populations to overcome the impact of shocks.