The COVID‐19 pandemic led many governments to implement lockdown regulations to curb the spread of the virus. Though lockdowns do minimise the physical damage caused by the virus, there may also be substantial damage to population well‐being. Using a pooled data set, we analyse the relationship between a mandatory lockdown and happiness in three diverse countries: South Africa, New Zealand and Australia. These countries differ amongst others in terms of lockdown regulations and duration. The primary aim is to determine, whether a lockdown is negatively associated with happiness, notwithstanding the characteristics of a country or the strictness of the lockdown regulations. Second, we compare the effect size of the lockdown on happiness between these countries. We use Difference‐in‐Difference estimations to determine the association between lockdown and happiness and a Least Squares Dummy Variable estimation to study the heterogeneity in the effect size of the lockdown by country. Our results show that a lockdown is associated with a decline in happiness, regardless of the characteristics of the country or the type and duration of its lockdown regulations. Furthermore, the effect size differs between countries in the sense that the more stringent the stay‐at‐home regulations are, the greater it seems to be.

中文翻译：

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三个国家的故事：COVID-19，锁定和幸福之间的关系是什么？

COVID-19大流行导致许多政府实施了锁定法规，以遏制病毒的传播。尽管锁定确实可以最大程度地减少由病毒引起的物理损害，但也可能对人口的福祉造成重大损害。使用汇总的数据集，我们分析了三个不同国家（南非，新西兰和澳大利亚）的强制性锁定与幸福之间的关系。这些国家/地区之间的锁定规定和持续时间有所不同。首要目的是确定锁定是否与幸福负相关，而不管国家的特征或锁定规定的严格性。其次，我们比较了这些国家之间封锁对幸福的影响大小。我们使用差异差异估计来确定锁定和幸福之间的关联，并使用最小二乘虚拟变量估计来研究锁定对每个国家的影响大小的异质性。我们的结果表明，锁定与幸福感的下降有关，无论该国的特征或其锁定法规的类型和期限如何。此外，不同国家之间的影响程度有所不同，就其而言，留守规定越严格，它似乎就越大。不论国家/地区的特征或其锁定规定的类型和期限如何。此外，不同国家之间的影响程度有所不同，就其而言，留守规定越严格，它似乎就越大。不论国家/地区的特征或其锁定规定的类型和期限如何。此外，不同国家之间的影响程度有所不同，就其而言，留守规定越严格，它似乎就越大。