Clusters in the Spread of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence From the G20 Countries

Abstract

This study tests the validity of the club convergence clustering hypothesis in the G20 countries using four measures of the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic: total number of confirmed cases per million people, new cases per million people, total deaths per million people, and new deaths per million people. The empirical analysis is based on the daily data from March 1, 2020, to October 10, 2020. The results indicate three clusters for the per capita income, two clusters for total cases per million people, and new cases per million people. Besides, there are only one and two clusters for total deaths per million people and new deaths per million people. Potential policy implications are also discussed in detail.