We analyze the timing, magnitude, and income dependence of pharmaceutical panic buying around the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in Hungary. We use district-level monthly and daily administrative data on detailed categories of pharmaceutical purchases, merge them to income statistics, and estimate multilevel panel models. Our main results are as follows. First, the days of therapy (DOT) of pharmaceutical purchases increased by more than 30% in March 2020, when major lockdown measures were announced. This pattern holds for almost all categories of pharmaceuticals. Second, shortly after the panic reactions, the aggregate amount of pharmaceutical purchases returned to their preshock levels; however, the frequency of pharmacy visits decreased. Third, the panic buying reaction was significantly stronger in richer geographical areas, where—according to the daily data—people also reacted earlier to the pandemic-related news. Overall, the results suggest that panic buying of pharmaceuticals can have detrimental effects on vulnerable populations.

中文翻译：

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COVID-19大流行爆发时药品恐慌性购买的收入梯度

我们分析了匈牙利 COVID-19 大流行爆发期间药品恐慌性购买的时间、规模和收入依赖性。我们使用地区级药品采购详细类别的月度和每日行政数据，将其合并到收入统计中，并估计多层面板模型。我们的主要结果如下。首先，2020 年 3 月宣布重大封锁措施时，药品采购的治疗天数 (DOT) 增加了 30% 以上。这种模式几乎适用于所有类别的药品。其次，恐慌反应发生后不久，药品采购总量就恢复到了震前的水平；然而，去药房的频率却有所下降。第三，在较富裕的地区，恐慌性购买反应明显更强，根据每日数据，人们对大流行相关新闻的反应也更早。总体而言，结果表明，恐慌性购买药品可能会对弱势群体产生不利影响。