Applying Space Data to the Analysis of the Economic Impact of Covid-19 Restrictions

The objective of this research is to study the impact of Covid-19 restrictions on the Italian economy based on space data on representative Italian ports. We posit that port activity has a mediation effect on Covid-19 restrictions’ impact on the Italian economy. To study port activity we leverage space data and, in particular, earto observation AIS data, which provide different types of information describing a port’s activity, such as the number of ships in a port at different points in time and their type. We complement these data with other sources of data, including traffic and mobility data, as well official sources of information on port economics and on the more general trends of the Italian economy. To test our hypotheses, we focus on two large Italian ports, Genoa (Liguria) and Gioia Tauro (Calabria). Our empirical analyses confirm that port activity has a mediation effect on Covid-19 restrictions’ impact on the Italian economy. The mediation effect has been found to be partial, as Covid-19 restrictions direct impact on the Italian economy remains significant when port activity is added to the correlation model.