COVID-19: Are people in some parts of England more ‘vulnerable’ than others?

The COVID-19 crisis has affected every part of the country – and indeed many other countries.

What sets this crisis apart is the many different ways that it is impacting families: while the virus itself is primarily a public health issue, the unprecedented responses it has necessitated mean that this is also very much an economic and a social crisis.

This is not to say that it is equally all of these things to all people – some families, and some areas, will be particularly vulnerable to the virus’s health impacts, while others look to be hit particularly hard on economic or social dimensions.

We are joined by Imran Rasul, Professor of Economics at University College London and co-director of the Centre for the Microeconomic Analysis of Public Policy at the IFS and Christine Farquharson, Senior Research Economist at the IFS to ask, are people in some parts of England more ‘vulnerable’ than others?