A global panel database of pandemic policies (Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker)
Open accessAbstract
COVID-19 has prompted unprecedented government action around the world. We introduce the Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker (OxCGRT), a dataset that addresses the need for continuously updated, readily usable and comparable information on policy measures. From 1 January 2020, the data capture government policies related to closure and containment, health and economic policy for more than 180 countries, plus several countries’ subnational jurisdictions. Policy responses are recorded on ordinal or continuous scales for 19 policy areas, capturing variation in degree of response. We present two motivating applications of the data, highlighting patterns in the timing of policy adoption and subsequent policy easing and reimposition, and illustrating how the data can be combined with behavioural and epidemiological indicators. This database enables researchers and policymakers to explore the empirical effects of policy responses on the spread of COVID-19 cases and deaths, as well as on economic and social welfare. The Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker (OxCGRT) records data on 19 different government COVID-19 policy indicators for over 190 countries. Covering closure and containment, health and economics measures, it creates an evidence base for effective responses.
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Singapore gradually ramped up measures after confirming its first COVID-19 case on January 23, while long avoiding more disruptive interventions including school closures.
“measures were gradually ramped up after the country confirmed its first case on January 23, while the more disruptive interventions, including school closures, were long avoided (Hale et al. 2021).”
From Precaution and proportionality in pandemic politics: democracy, state capacity, and COVID-19-related school closures around the world (2022) · cites this paper as Hale et al. 2021
As noted by Hale et al. (2021), while the initial policy response was relatively uniform, later measures were driven by local epidemiological situations and differing political environments, leading to divergent policy responses.
“As noted by Hale et al. (2021), while the initial policy response was relatively uniform, later measures were driven by local epidemiological situations and differing political environments, leading to divergent policy responses.”
From Educational Inequality* (2022) · cites this paper as Hale et al. (2021)
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“The dichotomous indicator on incidents of school closures is measured daily and based primarily on information from two data collection efforts carried out by UNESCO (2021) and Hale et al. (2021).”
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- Authors
- Hale, T., Angrist, N., Goldszmidt, R., Kira, B., Petherick, A., Phillips, T., Webster, S., Cameron-Blake, E., Hallas, L., Majumdar, S., & Tatlow, H.
- Affiliations
- University of Oxford (GB)
- Escola Brasileira de Administração Pública e de Empresas (BR)
- Corresponding author
- Hale, Thomas
- ORCID
- Venue
- Nature Human Behaviour
- Published
- 2021-03-08
- Volume
- 5
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 529-538
- ISSN
- 2397-3374 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W3135257712
- Cited by
- 4,578
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 340 · 2025: 570 · 2024: 762 · 2023: 1065 · 2022: 1126 · 2021: 626 · 2020: 81 · 2015: 1 · 2014: 2
- FWCI
- 346.43
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Nature Human Behaviour (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Blavatnik Family Foundation
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Modeling and Simulation › COVID-19 epidemiological studies
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › COVID-19 Prevention and Impact
- Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › COVID-19 Pandemic Impacts
- Keywords
- COVID-19 pandemic, government response, pandemic policy, Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker, policy indicators, containment measures, health policy, economic policy, policy easing, policy timing, subnational jurisdictions
- MeSH terms
- COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 Vaccines, Communicable Disease Control, Financial Support, Government, Health Policy, Humans, Masks, Public Policy, Schools, Social Welfare, Transportation, Travel, Databases, Factual, Contact Tracing
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