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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.

Using phone surveys to assess the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the delivery of health and nutrition services in rural Ethiopia

This study assesses the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the delivery of health and nutrition services in rural Ethiopia using a phone survey. This three-wave survey will illuminate disruptions to healthcare delivery and adoption of precautionary ...
Secondary Topic: Jobs, work, pay & benefits
Lead investigator: Guush Berhane
Countries

Covid-19: industry level origins of changes in economic welfare

We provide an analysis of how the decline in aggregate UK economic welfare caused by Covid-19 is related to industry-level measures of economic activity. By exploiting data on asset prices, we perform our analysis in real time. We find significant as...
Secondary Topic: Prices & interest rates
Lead investigator: Harjoat S. Bhamra
Countries

Trust in the healthcare system and Covid-19 treatment in the developing world – survey and experimental evidence from Armenia.

Covid-19 continues to spread across the globe at an exponential speed, infecting millions and overwhelming even the most prepared healthcare systems. Concerns are looming that the healthcare systems in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are mos...
Lead investigator: Armenak Antinyan
Countries

Assessing impacts on and resilience to food insecurity amid the Covid-19 lockdowns in Nigeria

As of the end of May 2020, there have been over 9000 cases and over 260 deaths from Covid-19 in Nigeria and cases have been rising quickly in recent weeks. To prevent the spread of the virus, governments in multiple states have imposed lockdowns. Whi...
Secondary Topic: Inequality & poverty
Lead investigator: Elena M Martinez
Countries

Listening to young lives at work: impact of the global coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic on young people in Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam

The survey aims to answer questions about impact of the pandemic, policies to contain the spread of the virus, and the subsequent economic slowdown in four developing countries. Building on almost twenty years of the project, the survey will examine ...
Secondary Topic: Jobs, work, pay & benefits
Lead investigator: Marta Favara

Covid-19 lockdown, institutional responsiveness, and household well-being: evidence from India

The countrywide lockdown has been the dominant strategy of the Indian government to arrest the rise of the Covid-19 pandemic. While the state and central governments should be focusing on formulating broad policies, the local government (Panchayats) ...
Lead investigator: Vivek Pandey
Countries

Well-being, religious beliefs and virtual relations at the time of Covid-19 lockdown

Covid-19 social distancing and lockdown are affecting individual lifestyles. We created a socio-economic survey addressed to a representative sample of the Italian (N=1,000) and US (N=1,400) population, focusing on three aspects of this phenomenon. (...
Lead investigator: Luigino Bruni
Countries

Our Covid story

Our Covid Story is a longitudinal study examining the impact of pandemic stress on health behaviors. Two cohorts of participants, from New York City and the broader United States, use a mobile app to complete approximately 5-10 minutes of self-report...
Lead investigator: Paul Glimcher
Countries

A cross country analyses of sentiments and emotions, before and after Covid-19, using big data

The main aim of this project is to analyse and compare sentiment and emotions of people in three countries, before and after the introduction of regulations to limit the spread of the Covid-19 virus. The uniqueness in the choice of the countries lies...
Lead investigator: Talita Greyling

Using weekly financial and health diaries to track health and income effects of the Covid-19 outbreak and government response measures in rural Kenya

While the current number of Covid-19 cases is relatively limited in Kenya, the anticipation of Covid-19 arrives much earlier than any exponential growth of infections, and so do the measures in response to it. Even in the absence of Covid-19 cases, t...
Secondary Topic: Inequality & poverty
Lead investigator: Wendy Janssens
Countries

How effective are social distancing policies? evidence on the fight against Covid-19 from Germany

To fight the spread of Covid-19, many countries implemented unprecedented social distancing policies. This is the first paper that uses an event-study approach to examine the effects of the German social distancing policies on (a) individual behavior...
Lead investigator: Ulrich Glogowsky
Countries

Uncovering the effects of Covid-19 on wellbeing and economic decision-making

To counter the public health emergency caused by the spread of Covid-19, “stay-at-home” executive order have been issued in most states across the U.S.. Because of the social distancing measures, the fear of income and employment losses and the f...
Lead investigator: Andreas Loschel
Countries

The physical cost of the Covid-19 lockdown for non-professional athletes.

We analyze the participation of non-professional athletes (NPAs) to sporting events (road cycling or running) that take place annually in Italy or the UK (further countries may be added later, depending on data availability). The Covid-19 lockdown in...
Lead investigator: Tommaso Reggiani
Countries

Covid-19, lockdown and health: the role of air pollution

This paper studies the impact of a prefecture’s lockdown measure in China (Out-side Hubei province), in response to the outbreak of Covid-19, on its air pollution and Covid-19 related health outcomes. In doing that, we use a difference-in-differenc...
Lead investigator: Linyuan Huang
Countries

Life in social isolation

The global pandemic of Covid19 has forced many people around the world to suddenly live in social isolation. The consequences of mass-scale social isolation on individuals’ mental health and wellbeing are still unknown. In this project, we study th...
Secondary Topic: Families & households
Lead investigator: Marina Della Giusta
Countries

How does the Covid-19 crisis affect access to mental health care? evidence from an audit field experiment in the United States

Crises such as pandemics and recessions increase mental illness and suicidality. Care from mental health professionals (MHPs) such as counselors, therapists, and psychologists, can help people affected by these conditions. However, little is known as...
Lead investigator: Patrick Button
Countries

Covid-19, stay-at-home orders and well-being: evidence from Google trends

We investigate the impact of the government response to Covid-19 on health and well-being using Google Trends Data. More precisely, we aim to test the impact of stay-at home orders on 12 Google Trends topics related to health and well-being in the US...
Secondary Topic: Families & households
Lead investigator: Abel Brodeur

Do cash transfers help sustain economic and psychological well-being in times of crisis – experimental evidence from Uganda

We evaluate the impact of cash grants offered to a random sample of rural households in Uganda on their economic and psychological well-being during the COVID19 crisis. The cash grants were provided shortly before the Government of Uganda ordered a n...
Secondary Topic: Families & households
Lead investigator: Kjetil Bjorvatn
Countries

Staying close when apart: the value of “information communication” during Covid-19 pandemics

Information-sharing and communication are key features of pandemics. In particular, people share information about the outbreaks, communicate with family and friends—be it either for support or not, including employers—be it formal and informal e...
Secondary Topic: Inequality & poverty
Lead investigator: Francis Annan
Countries

Haiti in the age of covid: facing the pandemy and other challenges…

Fighting Covid in a country where about 1/2 of the population has no access to safe water and 3/4 lives with less than US$2 a day is both extremely demanding and asking very fundamental questions about where to channel the obviously undersized resour...
Lead investigator: Jean-Baptiste Antenord
Countries