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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 implicit health-money trade-off in Covid-19 pandemic

The strategies to manage Covid-19 pandemic involve a challenging trade-off for policy-makers. On one hand, the closure of all non-essential economic activities (lockdown) helps to reduce the diffusion of the epidemic. On the other hand, lockdown come...
Lead investigator: Vincenzo Carrieri
Countries

The economic impact of Covid-19 and subsequent debt relief policies

Our research project examines the economic effects of Covid-19 and subsequent debt and credit relief policies along the value chain. Our project examines the effects on the micro to small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) along the value chain as we...
Primary Topic: Business, big & small
Secondary Topic: Recession & recovery
Lead investigator: Giacomo De Giorgi
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...
Primary Topic: Health, physical & mental
Lead investigator: Patrick Button
Countries

Nowcasting (real-time estimates of) aggregate economic activity and financial stability risks using national payment system data during Covid-19 outbreak.

Our goal is to construct a reliable measure to estimate the economic activity and financial stability risk in real time. We use a unique dataset obtained from the National Payment System (NPS) of the Bank of Russia. Dataset is updated daily and conta...
Primary Topic: Business, big & small
Lead investigator: Anna Burova
Countries

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...
Primary Topic: Health, physical & mental
Secondary Topic: Families & households
Lead investigator: Kjetil Bjorvatn
Countries

Resilience to economic shocks through continued electricity access

As Covid-19 spreads, access to reliable electricity will be critical in allowing households and firms to continue productive activities, keep their phones charged, and stay up-to-date on public health guidelines. Government restrictions that are need...
Primary Topic: Inequality & poverty
Secondary Topic: Recession & recovery
Lead investigator: Catherine Wolfram
Countries

Trust in experts during an epidemic

Trust in science and experts is extremely important in times of epidemics to ensure compliance with public health measures. Yet little is known about how this trust evolves while an epidemic is underway. Understanding these processes is vital for pol...
Lead investigator: Pietro Battiston
Countries

Prediction bias in times of Covid-19: use of a linear infection-prediction model when the true model is exponential

The set of measures designed to halt the unrelenting transmission of Covid-19, prescribed by the World Health Organization and widely disseminated by local governments, include frequent washing of hands, use of hand sanitizers and face masks, social ...
Lead investigator: Ritwik Banerjee

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...
Primary Topic: Health, physical & mental
Secondary Topic: Inequality & poverty
Lead investigator: Francis Annan
Countries

Maximizing effectiveness of policy-based responses to Covid-19: mapping citizens’ preferences over multi-dimensional trade-offs

At the onset of large-scale health crises such as the recent Covid-19 pandemic, the unavailability of reliable medicine-based responses implies that the role of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) and public health policies are essential in conta...
Lead investigator: Shaun Hargreaves Heap
Countries

Entering the labour market during a pandemic: scarring effects and youth unemployment

This research aims to investigate the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic for labour market entrants, in particular the scarring effects on university graduates and the impact on youth unemployment. Macroeconomists have described the pandemic-drive...
Lead investigator: Francesco Amodio

Effects of Covid-19 pandemic on scientists’ research

The onset of Covid-19 has had an immediate impact on how scientists are able to use their time and resources to do research. However, there is a lack of data on how scientists are responding to this event and the heterogeneous disruptions to specific...
Lead investigator: Kyle Myers
Countries

The impact of Covid-19 on consumption and income inequality

The Covid-19 pandemic has had large economic consequences in the US, directly contributing to soaring unemployment and massively depressed demand. Such rapid changes in household economic characteristics can certainly affect earnings, income, and con...
Primary Topic: Recession & recovery
Secondary Topic: Jobs, work, pay & benefits
Lead investigator: Loujaina Abdelwahed
Countries

Hang up on stereotypes: domestic violence and anti-abuse helpline campaign

We estimate the consequences of a government-led anti-domestic-abuse campaign launched in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic on the number of calls to the italian domestic violence helpline. In the week after the start of the campaign, we document a ...
Primary Topic: Crime & policing
Secondary Topic: Families & households
Lead investigator: Marco Colagrossi
Countries

Global evidence on the determinants of public trust in governments during the Covid-19

Using the Worldwide Covid-19 Attitudes and Beliefs dataset covering 108,918 respondents from 178 countries, the paper examines the determinants of public trust in governments during the Covid-19. It is found that older and healthy people trust more t...
Secondary Topic: Nations, regions & cities
Lead investigator: Giray Gozgor

Early evidence of the impact of Covid-19 and the recession on older workers in the United States

We summarize the early effects, and anticipated future effects, of the Covid-19 pandemic and resulting recession on older workers in the United States. We start by discussing what we know about how older workers faired in prior recessions in the Unit...
Primary Topic: Recession & recovery
Secondary Topic: Jobs, work, pay & benefits
Lead investigator: Patrick Button
Countries

The Covid-19 pandemic and its impact on inequality of opportunity in psychological distress in the UK

We use data from Wave 9 of UK Household Longitudinal Study (UKHLS)and the April 2020 Wave of the UKHLS Covid-19 survey to compare measures of ex ante inequality of opportunity (IOp) in psychological distress, as measured by the General Health Questio...
Primary Topic: Health, physical & mental
Secondary Topic: Inequality & poverty
Lead investigator: Apostolos Davillas
Countries

Job search during the Covid-19 crisis

This paper measures the job-search responses to the Covid-19 pandemic using real-time data on vacancy postings and ad views on Sweden's largest online job board. First, vacancy postings drop by 40%, similar to the US. Second, job seekers respond...
Lead investigator: Lena Hensvik
Countries

The impact of emergency cash assistance during a pandemic: experimental evidence from Colombia

We evaluate the impact of cash relief for vulnerable households during a pandemic. On March 31, 2020, Colombia rolled out an unconditional cash transfer program to help low-income households deal with the economic consequences of the coronavirus pand...
Primary Topic: Recession & recovery
Lead investigator: Juliana Londoño-Vélez
Countries

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