Corona, lockdown, local GDP and Individual well-being: a comparison of regions in New Zealand with machine learning forecasts

We study the impact of local economic prospects on the well-being of individuals in reaction to the Corona lockdown and thereafter. We expect that well-being is positively affected by the economic outlook in the local region, as approximated via AI-based forecasts. We measure individual well-being by running a partly incentivized questionnaire on a representative sample of ca. 2000 subjects for the adult population aged 18 to 65 in New Zealand. We ask for happiness (+), feeling paralysed (-), relationship with partner (+), physical aggression in the household (-) as well as consumption of alcohol (-) before, during and after the Corona lockdown. We compare regions in New Zealand that vary in economic performance and are otherwise as comparable as possible. We also elicit data on different habits as well as the economic situation of individuals such as changes in income. Thus, we can control for individuals' economic situation when studying the impact of local economic prospects on well-being.