Addressing Differential Impacts of Covid-19 in NYS: COVID-19 and the Causal Relationship Between the Social Determinants of Health and Health Disparities

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic and its effect on public policy has the potential to provide new causal evidence on the relationship between the social determinants of health (SDOH) and health disparities in the US. Pre-pandemic data is suggestive that SDOH were the primary reason why Black and Hispanic New Yorkers were disproportionately affected by COVID-19 but rigorous causal inference statistical methods and high quality data are needed to fully understand the relationship. In this chapter I discuss the complex relationship between SDOH and health disparities and the role COVID-19 can play in understanding that causal relationship. I discuss several statistical and econometric methods and how they can be employed in COVID-19 related causal inference including panel data methods, instrumental variables, and regression discontinuity designs. I also discuss the importance of leveraging new and existing sources of high quality data.