García-Prado, AriadnaGonzález Rodríguez, PaulaRebollo-Sanz, Yolanda F.2025-08-262025-08-262025Ariadna García-Prado, Paula González & Yolanda F. Rebollo-Sanz (2025) Confinement policies: controlling contagion without compromising mental health, Applied Economics, 57:33, 4844-4860, DOI: 10.1080/00036846.2024.236410010.1080/00036846.2024.2364100https://hdl.handle.net/10433/24652Agencia Estatal de Investigación (Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades), projects PID2019-104452RB-I00 and PID2023-151366OB-I00, Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional y Consejería de Transformación Económica, Industria, Conocimiento y Universidades, Junta de Andalucía, projects P18-RT-2135 and UPO-FEDER-1263503A growing literature shows that confinement policies used by governments to slow COVID-19 transmission have negative impacts on mental health, but the differential effects of individual policies on mental health remain poorly understood. We used data from the COVID-19 questionnaire of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), which focuses on populations aged 50 and older, and the Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker for 28 countries to estimate the effects of eight different confinement policies on three outcomes of mental health: insomnia, anxiety and depression. We applied robust machine learning methods to estimate the effects of interest. Our results indicate that closure of schools and public transportation, restrictions on domestic and international travel, and gathering restrictions did not worsen the mental health of older populations in Europe. In contrast, stay at home policies and workplace closures aggravated the three health outcomes analysed. Based on these findings, we close with a discussion of which policies should be implemented, intensified, or relaxed to control the spread of the virus without compromising the mental health of older populations.application/pdfenCOVID-19Mental healthConfinement policiesOlder populationsRobust machine learning methodsjournal articlerestricted access