Current Research
List viewEconomists from around the world are using real time data collection to better understand the impact the Covid-19 crisis is having on families, workers, firms and society, and how policies can help the recovery out of the crisis. Find out more about how these research teams are carrying out their projects, and what their findings are below.
Covid-19 and disadvantage in New York City: a study using data from the Robin Hood and Columbia University poverty tracker and early childhood poverty tracker
Within two weeks, the Covid-19 pandemic drastically altered life in New York City, wreaking havoc on the personal and economic health of the City’s population. This study employs data from the Robin Hood and Columbia University Poverty Tracker and ...
Primary Topic: Jobs, work, pay & benefits
Secondary Topic: Inequality & poverty
Lead investigator: Jane Waldfogel
Countries
Agile working in times of Covid-19
In times of Covid-19 crisis, encouraging Agile Working (AW) is a key global action adopted by governments and companies to protect workers in the workplace and to maintain economic and education systems’ activities during the quarantine. Studies bu...
Primary Topic: Jobs, work, pay & benefits
Lead investigator: Massimo Miglioretti
Countries
Food purchase behavior during Covid-19 pandemic
Covid-19 pandemic is increasingly a historical challenge that the world is called upon to face without prior preparation. In addition to an inevitable economic crisis due to the shutdown of many economic activities, the pandemic is causing important ...
Primary Topic: Attitudes, media & governance
Secondary Topic: Recession & recovery
Lead investigator: Rodolfo M. Nayga
Countries
When school closes, dad works and mum stays home?
What is the division of child care between mothers and fathers, and how does this division affect labor supply? The spread of Covid-19 has led to temporary closures of childcare facilities and schools in many countries. This is particularly challengi...
Primary Topic: Jobs, work, pay & benefits
Secondary Topic: Families & households
Lead investigator: Omar Bamieh
Countries
Effect of Covid-19 and the enacted policy measures on individual travel behavior
Between August 2019 and January 2020, we carried out a large-scale tracking study involving 3,000 people in Switzerland. Participants were tracked using the GPS –based travel diary app “Catch my Day” for a total of 8 weeks based on a rolling re...
Primary Topic: Attitudes, media & governance
Secondary Topic: Inequality & poverty
Lead investigator: Beat Hintermann
Countries
Showing life opportunities: Covid-19 rapid response survey
More than 1.5 billion students have to stay at home due to Covid-19 school closures, more than 90% of total enrolled learners (UNESCO, 04.01.2020). To ensure learning continuity, students have to study at home. However, it is unclear how the students...
Primary Topic: Attitudes, media & governance
Secondary Topic: Health, physical & mental
Lead investigator: Igor Asanov
Countries
Attitudes, behaviours and sources of information among social media users towards Covid-19: a cross-cultural explanatory study
Researchers, policymakers and societies alike are increasingly discussing the New Coronavirus situation. The European Commission, national governments and private foundations are investing large amounts of money for research, focusing on finding the ...
Primary Topic: Attitudes, media & governance
Lead investigator: Yash Chawla
The tradeoff between healthcare and income contributions during the Covid-19 pandemic
We investigate the trade-off between public support in the form of charitable contributions to healthcare needs versus income support for displaced workers during the Covid-19 pandemic. We conducted a nationwide incentivized experiment in the United ...
Primary Topic: Attitudes, media & governance
Lead investigator: Samir Huseynov
Countries
Youth empowerment in Bolivia
We evaluate a program that aims to help vulnerable youth aged 15-18 find a job, improve their working conditions and strengthen their income generation capacity. In order to achieve these goals, the program, which is implemented in four regions of Bo...
Primary Topic: Jobs, work, pay & benefits
Lead investigator: Selim Gulesci
Countries
Labor market policies during a pandemic
Many countries have introduced lockdowns to fight Covid-19, which has required the shuttering of many businesses and dramatically increased unemployment. We study the interaction of lockdowns and employment support programs in an epidemiological SEIR...
Primary Topic: Jobs, work, pay & benefits
Secondary Topic: Recession & recovery
Lead investigator: Andrew Glover
Countries
Covid-19 and attitudes about markets and government
The Covid-19 pandemic has dramatically disrupted our lives and revealed features--both strengths and weaknesses--of the economy and government that may not have been clear or seemed relevant before. In this research project, we investigate whether th...
Primary Topic: Attitudes, media & governance
Secondary Topic: Families & households
Lead investigator: Sandra Goff
Countries
Understanding behavioral barriers to demand for domestic violence services
Domestic violence (DV), defined as stalking, rape, or physical violence, is a global problem with 35% of women worldwide reporting experiencing DV (WHO 2017). More than 12 million people experience domestic violence in the U.S. each year (National DV...
Primary Topic: Crime & policing
Secondary Topic: Families & households
Lead investigator: Sofia Amaral
Countries
The effect of Covid-19 on home prices and sales
I analyze the effect of Covid-19 on home prices and sales in the United States. I do so using a dataset on approved purchase mortgage applications. The mortgage data have many of the key variables also available in housing transaction data such as sa...
Primary Topic: Prices & interest rates
Lead investigator: Elliot Anenberg
Countries
The welfare effect on households of social isolation
This project studies the welfare effects of social isolation due to the Covid-19 outbreak. In particular, we are interested in measuring the potential negative welfare effects on household of having to be in quarantine with limited possibilities to b...
Primary Topic: Attitudes, media & governance
Secondary Topic: Health, physical & mental
Lead investigator: Ola Andersson
Countries
How does the Covid-19 outbreak affect people’s expectation about the macroeconomy?
We conduct an incentivized online experiment to investigate the effect of Covid-19 on people’s expectation about the macroeconomy including economic growth rate, inflation rate, house price, and personal consumption, saving, and investment. We elic...
Primary Topic: Attitudes, media & governance
Lead investigator: King King Li
Countries
Social distancing and school closures: documenting disparity in internet access among school children
Social distancing directives across the United States have led to school closures. Some districts are moving towards online instruction, but this requires internet access at home. We examine the factors that determine whether school children have acc...
Primary Topic: Schools, universities & training
Secondary Topic: Families & households
Lead investigator: Ananya Sen
Countries
The global Covid-19 student survey
The global Covid-19 student survey aims to gauge university students’ reactions to the current Covid-19 pandemic and their expectations about the future, particularly as they enter the job market. The survey aims to document how students’ studies...
Primary Topic: Attitudes, media & governance
Secondary Topic: Jobs, work, pay & benefits
Lead investigator: David A. Jaegar
Trust in the state and citizen cooperation: evidence from Pakistan
In the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, we are conducting a randomized controlled trial in Pakistan. We aim to test the effectiveness of different information treatments designed to increase citizens’ trust in the government, specifically the gove...
Primary Topic: Attitudes, media & governance
Secondary Topic: Public spending, taxes & debt
Lead investigator: Adnan Khan
Countries
Heterogeneous vulnerability to the Covid-19 crisis in Japan
We study how the Covid-19 crisis could affect earnings inequality across heterogeneous individuals in Japan. We use the Employment Structure Basic Survey by Statistics Bureau of Japan to identify groups of workers who are more susceptible to the shoc...
Primary Topic: Jobs, work, pay & benefits
Secondary Topic: Inequality & poverty
Lead investigator: Shinnosuke Kikuchi
Countries
Changes in higher order risk attitudes during a pandemic: the impact of rapid increases in health background risk on financial decisions
Individuals make economic decisions while being exposed to a multitude of risks that they cannot completely control: risks such as pandemics, chronic illnesses, income instability or environmental hazards. One of these risks is the current coronaviru...
Primary Topic: Health, physical & mental
Secondary Topic: Inequality & poverty
Lead investigator: Abdul H. Kidwai
Countries
