Gendered Impacts of the COVID-19 in Mongolia: results from big data research

ABSTRACT

Based on the big data sample, we found that during the first year of Covid-19, although per month, per person expenditures of female-headed households were higher, on average, compared with male-headed households in Mongolia, but it is not because of the gender of the household head, but because these heads of households on average have more education, smaller household sizes, and living more in urban areas. They also register their expenditures in the VAT e-receipts system more consistently, which means that male-headed households' expenditures are underestimated. Overall, expenditure of both male- and female-headed households has increased in 2020 compared with 2019, while poverty slightly declined. The major reasons for expenditure increase and poverty decline in 2020 a rapid rollout of a fiscal stimulus with a sizable social protection component.