Pryce Boeye’s Hungry Hobo sandwich shops’ sales on the Iowa side of the Mississippi River have been booming since the state reopened dining rooms in mid-May, while those he owns in still-closed Illinois languish.

The pattern is repeated across the Quad Cities, a river-straddling metro area of around 420,000 that includes Scott and Muscatine counties on the Iowa side, as well as Rock Island and Henry counties in Illinois. The contrasting state reopening policies have created two tracks in what had been a unified economy before the coronavirus pandemic.

The scene is playing out in other border communities around the country where workers and shoppers regularly cross state lines. The relatively stringent lockdown regime in Illinois compared with Iowa has created a clear shift in current spending patterns and potential longer-term consequences.

These are the opening 3 paragraphs of Doug Cameron, “States’ Divergent Virus Rules Create Tale of Two Economies,” Wall Street Journal, June 24 (June 25 print edition).

I often see economists say that the lockdowns didn’t have much effect because a huge percentage of consumers were essentially engaged in their lockdown measures without government regulation.

The evidence in this article, not just anecdotes but 3 graphs of hours worked, businesses open, and employees working, strongly suggests that the lockdowns matter. (There are 3 graphs in the print version and only one in the electronic version.)

To be sure, you have to adjust for the fact that these cities border each other; the effect is therefore exaggerated by the cross-border shopping. So a better test would be Iowa and Illinois cities separated by 50 miles or so. Nevertheless, it’s strong evidence.

 

I’m catching up on Wall Street Journals during my staycation.