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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 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 effect of social distancing on risk aversion, trust, and solidarity

The experiment investigates the causal effect of social distancing on behavioral traits that are important in interpersonal relationships. We exploit the different timing of stay-at-home orders issued during the Covid-19 outbreak as a natural experim...
Lead investigator: Antonio Filippin
Countries

Willingness to pay for morbidity and mortality risk reductions during an epidemic. Theory and preliminary evidence from the Covid-19 epidemic

As a result of the ongoing coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, individuals and governments around the world are undertaking very costly actions to prevent the rapid spread of the disease and potentially millions of deaths (e.g. social distancing interve...
Lead investigator: Luciana Echazu
Countries

The effect of shelter-in-place orders on domestic violence

As the coronavirus spreads across the United States, many states have enacted shelter-in-place orders to limit the growth of the pandemic. While these policies are designed to benefit public health, they may have harmful effects upon household welfar...
Primary Topic: Crime & policing
Lead investigator: Jeremy A. Cook
Countries

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 ...
Secondary Topic: Inequality & poverty
Lead investigator: Jane Waldfogel
Countries

Infectious diseases, social distancing and firm dynamics

In this project, we study the economic costs and trade-offs associated to the mitigation measures of social distancing intended to counteract the spread of an epidemic disease. To do so, we introduce the SIR model of epidemic progression in an otherw...
Primary Topic: Recession & recovery
Secondary Topic: Business, big & small
Lead investigator: Andrea Chiavari
Countries

The short-term effect of Covid-19 on employment and wages

In this ongoing project, we examine the short-term consequences of Covid-19 on employment and wages in the united states. Guided by a pre-analysis plan, we document the impact of Covid-19 at the national-level using a simple difference and test wheth...
Lead investigator: Abel Brodeur
Countries

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 ...
Lead investigator: Samir Huseynov
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...
Secondary Topic: Families & households
Lead investigator: Sandra Goff
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...
Secondary Topic: Recession & recovery
Lead investigator: Andrew Glover
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

Feverish stock price reactions to Covid-19

The market reactions to the 2019 novel Coronavirus disease (Covid-19) shed light on the importance of international trade and financial policies for firm value. Initially, investors priced negative consequences for internationally oriented US firms, ...
Primary Topic: Business, big & small
Secondary Topic: Prices & interest rates
Lead investigator: Stefano Ramelli
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...
Secondary Topic: Families & households
Lead investigator: Ananya Sen
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

Inequality in the impact of the coronavirus shock: new survey evidence for the US

The briefing notes provide new evidence on inequalities in the economic impact of the Covid-19 downturn using survey data that the authors collected from a large representative sample of US workers on 24th March 2020. We find significant inequality i...
Secondary Topic: Inequality & poverty
Lead investigator: Abi Adams-Prassl
Countries