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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.

Preferences, beliefs and behavior during the Covid-19 outbreak

In this study, we examine the effect of the Covid-19 outbreak on beliefs, behavior and preferences in the United States. To identify direct economic effects of the crisis, we measure the negative impact of the pandemic on participants’ health and f...
Lead investigator: Sheryl Ball
Countries

Mitigation of risks of Covid-19 contagion and robotisation: evidence from Italy

The rapid and dramatic diffusion of the Covid-19 epidemic in Italy was tackled by the Italian government with social distancing measures and with the suspension of all economic activities, but ``essential'' sectors. A lively policy debate o...
Lead investigator: Mauro Caselli
Countries

Information search and financial market performance under pandemic: evidence from Covid-19

The discovery, and subsequent spread, of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) exposed both individuals and investors to a grave uncertainty about the potential health and economic ramifications of the virus, particularly in the early days and weeks of th...
Secondary Topic: Recession & recovery
Lead investigator: Behzod B. Ahundjanov
Countries

The effects of Covid-19 crisis on Japanese households: a study using the data from the special survey of Japan Household Panel Survey(JHPS)

Using the data from the special survey of the Japan Household Panel Survey (JHPS), this study aims to clarify the effects of Covid-19 crisis on households, labour market outcome, health and wellbeing, and how those changes affect inequality in Japan....
Primary Topic: Inequality & poverty
Secondary Topic: Jobs, work, pay & benefits
Lead investigator: Isamu Yamamato
Countries

Stereotypes and political attitudes in the age of coronavirus: empirical evidence from Italy

The novel coronavirus has led to increasing concerns about racial discrimination and anti-EU sentiment in various European countries. We use a newly-developed bot that works through Facebook Messenger to conduct a longitudinal online survey in Italy ...
Lead investigator: Dante Donati
Countries

Public firm borrowers of the us paycheck protection program

We provide an initial assessment of the US Paycheck Protection Program by studying the 273 public firms that received a total of $929 million in loans between April 7-27, 2020. Despite receiving significant media coverage, these firms comprise 0.3% o...
Primary Topic: Business, big & small
Secondary Topic: Prices & interest rates
Lead investigator: Anna Cororaton
Countries

Partisanship and public health: early evidence from Belgium during the Covid-19 pandemic

We investigate how partisanship affects the authority of the executive branch by looking at the relationship between electoral support for the governing coalition and Covid-19 deaths across Belgian municipal districts. Applying spatial autoregressive...
Secondary Topic: Health, physical & mental
Lead investigator: Arthur Dyevre
Countries

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) ...
Primary Topic: Health, physical & mental
Lead investigator: Vivek Pandey
Countries

The impact of lockdown on the division of housework and childcare in French households

Before the Covid-19 outbreak, the burden of unpaid work in Europe, e.g. housework and childcare, was mostly carried-out by women - with women spending around 22 hours per week and men only 9 hours per week in unpaid work (European Commission 2019). W...
Primary Topic: Families & households
Secondary Topic: Inequality & poverty
Lead investigator: Anne Boring
Countries

The impact of Covid-19 lockdown and re-opening on the housing market: evidence from China

This paper evaluates the performance of the housing market in China after the Covid-19 outbreak and subsequent economy re-opening. We construct both daily and weekly housing price indices for more than 30 cities by analyzing 600 thousand housing tran...
Primary Topic: Prices & interest rates
Lead investigator: Naqun Huang
Countries

Prosocial behavior in the time of Covid-19: the effect of private and public role models

In public good provision and other collective action problems, people are uncertain about how to balance self-interest and prosociality. Actions of others may inform this decision. We conduct an experiment to test the effect of private and public rol...
Lead investigator: Martin Abel
Countries

Hate crime in time of the Corona

The news of the novel virus first reached the world when the World Health Organisation (WHO) confirmed the first case in China on December 31, 2019. As the danger it posed to the public grew and the virus spread first across China, then to Europe and...
Primary Topic: Crime & policing
Lead investigator: Joel Carr
Countries

Does Covid-19 affect neighborhood amenity?

This paper studies the impact of Covid-19 on neighborhood amenity by analyzing the effect of confirmed Covid-19 cases on housing prices in China. Home buyers may not choose housing units in neighborhoods that have confirmed Covid-19 cases because of ...
Primary Topic: Prices & interest rates
Lead investigator: Naqun Huang
Countries

Demand for public events in the Covid-19 pandemic: a case study of European football

This study uses data from elite-level European football matches and panel data methods to suggest how people responded to the initial Covid-19 outbreak. In Italy, England and Germany, stadium attendances were negatively affected by the previous day&#...
Lead investigator: J. James Reade

Children’s education and use of time during the Covid-19 lockdown in France and Italy

The Covid-19 crisis has large impacts on the economy and these impacts are probably highly unequal among individuals and families. From a family perspective the lockdown situation is having a tremendous impact on two fundamental assets of families we...
Secondary Topic: Health, physical & mental
Lead investigator: Hugues Champeaux
Countries

Trust and compliance to public health policies in time of Covid-19

The Covid-19 crisis has led to fast policy responses all over the world to reduce social interaction and limit contagion. Using Google mobility data at regional level in Europe, we study whether the compliance to containment policies depends on the l...
Lead investigator: Olivier Bargain

The effects of Covid-19 on the gender gap in academic research productivity

The rapid spread of the new coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic and the subsequent counter-measures, such as school closures, shift to working from home, and social distancing are disrupting economic activity around the world. As with other major economi...
Primary Topic: Families & households
Secondary Topic: Inequality & poverty
Lead investigator: Tatyana Deryugina

Remittances in the time of Covid-19. Evidence from Mexico

Remittance flows to low-and middle-income countries are one of the main contributors to economic growth and development. Since mid-1900s, these flows have exceeded official aid by a factor of three and they overtook foreign direct investment flows to...
Primary Topic: Inequality & poverty
Secondary Topic: Nations, regions & cities
Lead investigator: Lelys Dinarte
Countries

In crisis we pray: religiosity and the Covid-19 pandemic

In times of crisis, humans have a tendency to turn to religion for comfort and explanation. The 2020 Covid-19 pandemic is no exception. Daily data on Google searches for 95 countries demonstrates that the Covid-19 crisis has increased Google searches...
Lead investigator: Jeanet Sinding Bentzen

Grey rhinos in financial markets and venue selection: the case of Covid-19

We investigate the effects of the Covid-19-induced shock in financial markets on aggregate venue selection/market share and market quality. We find that the shock is linked with an economically significant loss of market share by dark pools to lit ex...
Primary Topic: Banks & financial markets
Secondary Topic: Prices & interest rates
Lead investigator: Gbenga Ibikunle