Investigating the epidemiological and economic effects of a third-party certification policy for restaurants with COVID-19 prevention measures
Abstract This study investigates the effects of a third-party certification policy for restaurants (including bars) that comply with indoor infection-prevention measures on COVID-19 cases and economic activities. We focus on the case of Yamanashi Prefecture in Japan, which introduced a third-party c...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Nature Portfolio
2023-05-01
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| Series: | Scientific Reports |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-34498-w |
| _version_ | 1797827611602190336 |
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| author | Kazuya Hirokawa Jumpei Hirota Daiji Kawaguchi Yusuke Masaki Chiaki Onita |
| author_facet | Kazuya Hirokawa Jumpei Hirota Daiji Kawaguchi Yusuke Masaki Chiaki Onita |
| author_sort | Kazuya Hirokawa |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract This study investigates the effects of a third-party certification policy for restaurants (including bars) that comply with indoor infection-prevention measures on COVID-19 cases and economic activities. We focus on the case of Yamanashi Prefecture in Japan, which introduced a third-party certification policy that accredits facilities, predominantly restaurants, that comply with the designated guidelines. We employ a difference-in-differences design for each of our epidemiological and economic analyses. The estimation results show that, from July 2020 to April 2021, the certification policy reduced the total number of new infection cases by approximately 45.3% (848 cases), while increasing total sales and the number of customers per restaurant by approximately 12.8% (3.21 million Japanese yen or $30,000) and 30.3% (2909 customers), respectively, compared to the non-intervention scenarios. The results suggest that a third-party certification policy can be an effective policy to mitigate the trade-off between economic activities and infection prevention during a pandemic, especially when effective vaccines are not widely available. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-09T12:51:06Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ec74bf6a7c644c37a02474b1ea3f1106 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-09T12:51:06Z |
| publishDate | 2023-05-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj.art-ec74bf6a7c644c37a02474b1ea3f11062023-05-14T11:13:36ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222023-05-0113111310.1038/s41598-023-34498-wInvestigating the epidemiological and economic effects of a third-party certification policy for restaurants with COVID-19 prevention measuresKazuya Hirokawa0Jumpei Hirota1Daiji Kawaguchi2Yusuke Masaki3Chiaki Onita4Graduate School of Public Policy, The University of TokyoGraduate School of Public Policy, The University of TokyoGraduate School of Public Policy, The University of TokyoGraduate School of Public Policy, The University of TokyoGraduate School of Public Policy, The University of TokyoAbstract This study investigates the effects of a third-party certification policy for restaurants (including bars) that comply with indoor infection-prevention measures on COVID-19 cases and economic activities. We focus on the case of Yamanashi Prefecture in Japan, which introduced a third-party certification policy that accredits facilities, predominantly restaurants, that comply with the designated guidelines. We employ a difference-in-differences design for each of our epidemiological and economic analyses. The estimation results show that, from July 2020 to April 2021, the certification policy reduced the total number of new infection cases by approximately 45.3% (848 cases), while increasing total sales and the number of customers per restaurant by approximately 12.8% (3.21 million Japanese yen or $30,000) and 30.3% (2909 customers), respectively, compared to the non-intervention scenarios. The results suggest that a third-party certification policy can be an effective policy to mitigate the trade-off between economic activities and infection prevention during a pandemic, especially when effective vaccines are not widely available.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-34498-w |
| spellingShingle | Kazuya Hirokawa Jumpei Hirota Daiji Kawaguchi Yusuke Masaki Chiaki Onita Investigating the epidemiological and economic effects of a third-party certification policy for restaurants with COVID-19 prevention measures Scientific Reports |
| title | Investigating the epidemiological and economic effects of a third-party certification policy for restaurants with COVID-19 prevention measures |
| title_full | Investigating the epidemiological and economic effects of a third-party certification policy for restaurants with COVID-19 prevention measures |
| title_fullStr | Investigating the epidemiological and economic effects of a third-party certification policy for restaurants with COVID-19 prevention measures |
| title_full_unstemmed | Investigating the epidemiological and economic effects of a third-party certification policy for restaurants with COVID-19 prevention measures |
| title_short | Investigating the epidemiological and economic effects of a third-party certification policy for restaurants with COVID-19 prevention measures |
| title_sort | investigating the epidemiological and economic effects of a third party certification policy for restaurants with covid 19 prevention measures |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-34498-w |
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