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Current Research

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Economists 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.

The effect of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) pandemic on risk and time preferences

We elicit incentivized measures of risk and time preferences in a sample of undergraduate students in Athens, Greece. While the original purpose of the study was to elicit a battery of psychological, behavioral and economic measures and traits that c...
Lead investigator: Andreas C. Drichoutis
Countries

International trade during a pandemic: boon or bane? a structural gravity approach

We empirically estimate the effects of the Corona pandemic on international trade. One hypothesis is that economies with a high degree of trade diversification are less harmed by pandemic-induced disruptions of trade flows. This analysis will give re...
Primary Topic: Trade & supply chains
Secondary Topic: Recession & recovery
Lead investigator: Daniel Osberghaus
Countries

Belief in science influences physical distancing in response to Covid-19 lockdown policies

Physical distancing reduces transmission risks and slows the spread of Covid-19. Local and regional governments in the United States have issued shelter-in-place policies to mandate physical distancing. Yet compliance with these policies is uneven an...
Lead investigator: David Van Dijcke
Countries

Wage inequality and poverty effects of lockdown and social distancing in Europe

The “social distancing” measures taken to contain the spread of Covid-19 impose economic costs that go beyond the contraction of GDP. Since different occupations are not equally affected, this supply shock may have distributional implications. He...
Lead investigator: Juan C. Palomino

The Covid-19 pandemic and sovereign bond risk

Governments around the world are tackling the Covid-19 pandemic with a mix of public health, fiscal, macroprudential, monetary, or market-based policies. We aim to quantify the impact on European sovereign CDS spreads of the pandemic and the policy m...
Primary Topic: Prices & interest rates
Secondary Topic: Trade & supply chains
Lead investigator: Alin Marius Andries

Pro-sociality predicts health behaviors during the Covid-19 pandemic

Socially responsible behavior is crucial for slowing the spread of infectious diseases. However, economic and epidemiological models of disease transmission abstract from prosocial motivations as a driver of behaviors that impact the health of others...
Secondary Topic: Health, physical & mental
Lead investigator: Pol Campos-Mercade
Countries

Covid-19 and financial markets: a panel analysis for European countries

In order to fight the economic consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic, monetary and fiscal policy announced a large variety of support packages which are often unprecedented in size. In this paper, we provide an empirical analysis of the responses of ...
Secondary Topic: Recession & recovery
Lead investigator: Jens Klose

The impact of Covid-19 on us stock market: Fama-French models

The paper evaluates the performance of Fama-French models on US stock during Covid-19. All data used in constructed models have origination from Fama-French official website from 1st January 2000 to 31st March 2020. (Fama and French 2020). The result...
Primary Topic: Business, big & small
Secondary Topic: Prices & interest rates
Lead investigator: Dominik Horvath
Countries

Job search behaviour in the united states during the Covid-19 pandemic

This study examines the effect of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) on U.S. job search activity by developing sectoral and state-level job search indices. We document that Covid-19 has a significantly negative effect on job search, and that this eff...
Lead investigator: Wei-Fong Pan
Countries

Improving bureaucratic effectiveness during the Covid-19 crisis

We study whether positive and negative reinforcement messages to supervisors can help improve bureaucratic outcomes in times of crisis. In many parts of the developing world, it is difficult to get bureaucrats to complete tasks. Focusing on school pr...
Lead investigator: Catherine Rodríguez
Countries

Economics of Covid-19 multilateral foreign aid

This paper provides an empirical study of the link between Covid-19 aid to developing countries by multilateral organizations and the level of democracy in the recipient countries. In particular, we test whether developing countries with lower level ...
Secondary Topic: Nations, regions & cities
Lead investigator: Sherzod B. Akhundjanov

The short run and long run effects of Covid-19 on children’s human capital and labor.

The Covid-19 crisis is likely to bring to the surface weaknesses in the education system of developing countries, with the poorest sections of the population being disproportionately adversely affected. With the social-distancing measures having clos...
Secondary Topic: Inequality & poverty
Lead investigator: Samreen Malik
Countries

Gender equality in work and Covid-19 deaths

On average, women comprise a smaller share of deaths from Covid-19. Variation in the share of Covid-19 deaths for women across countries and US States suggests that biological factors cannot fully account for this gender difference. I hypothesize tha...
Secondary Topic: Inequality & poverty
Lead investigator: Renée Adams
Countries

Covid-19 health messaging to underserved communities

In the US, recent statistics show that African American and Latinx communities bear a disproportionate burden from Covid-19. Reaching vulnerable and underserved populations is therefore crucial to combating the disease. However, most public messaging...
Primary Topic: Health, physical & mental
Lead investigator: Marcella Alsan
Countries

Accepting the mask, accepting the mosque? the effects of Covid-19 related face covering on prejudice towards religious veiling.

Using a large scale lab-in-the-field experimental setting, we study how the mitigation efforts for Covid-19 in the form of covering the face through masks affect the behavior and perception of subjects towards others. In particular, we study whether ...
Lead investigator: Samreen Malik
Countries

The impact of shutdown policies on unemployment during a pandemic

We use high-frequency Google search data, combined with data on the announcement dates of nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) during the Covid-19 pandemic in U.S. states, to isolate the impact of NPIs on unemployment in an event-study framework. E...
Lead investigator: Edward Kong
Countries

The health and wellbeing impacts of Covid-19 among rural households in Bangladesh

To curb the spread of the Covid-19 Bangladesh started a countrywide lockdown from late March 2020, which resulted in business closure and disruption of economic activities bringing the livelihood of millions of people, particularly those in the low-i...
Primary Topic: Health, physical & mental
Lead investigator: Asadul Islam
Countries

The effects of marketing inclusivity in the wake of Covid-19 on university matriculation

We conducted a randomized controlled trial (RCT) aimed at increasing application and matriculation rates among women (and underrepresented minority (URM) women) at California Polytechnic State University’s College of Business. RCT marketing address...
Secondary Topic: Inequality & poverty
Lead investigator: Jacqueline Doremus
Countries

School closures, shelter-in-place, and crime and legal proceedings

Across the world, Covid-19 shelter-in-place rules have limited mobility and required most adults and children stay at home. Men and women face increased stress from fear of coronavirus infection, economic uncertainty, job loss, or increased child-car...
Primary Topic: Crime & policing
Secondary Topic: Health, physical & mental
Lead investigator: Scott Cunningham
Countries

Perceived risk and wellbeing during the Covid-19 crisis in India

Covid-19 has paralyzed the world over the last few months and has sent millions into complete lockdown. Residents from developing countries such as India who suffer from widespread poverty and inequality and reside in regions with high population den...
Primary Topic: Health, physical & mental
Secondary Topic: Inequality & poverty
Lead investigator: Debayan Pakrashi
Countries