Current Research
List viewEconomists 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.
ESRC mental health research network
The Covid-19 Social Study is a panel study of the psychological and social experiences of adults in the UK during the outbreak of the novel coronavirus run by University College London. Over 75,000 people are currently participating in the study, com...
Primary Topic: Health, physical & mental
Lead investigator: Dr Daisy Fancourt
Countries
Consumer expectations around Covid-19: evolution over time
Since Apr 24, 2020, we have been collecting direct information on consumers’ expectations about the duration of social distancing rules, including stay-at-home and social-distancing rules, and of business closures, in the United States and Canada. ...
Primary Topic: Attitudes, media & governance
Secondary Topic: Recession & recovery
Lead investigator: Fabian Lange
Families under confinement: Covid-19, domestic violence, and alcohol consumption
Evidence suggests that during the Covid-19 lockdown, alcohol consumption has increased and income has gone down among several households in Mexico City. The existing literature relates alcohol consumption and negative income shocks to a greater numbe...
Primary Topic: Crime & policing
Lead investigator: Jose Roberto Balmori de la Miyar
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
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
Social distancing and pro-sociality in times of acute sanitary crisis
The health crisis generated by the Covid-19 disease, which is rapidly spreading worldwide through direct human contact, has called for strict measures to limit contagion that drastically reduce social interactions. We study whether the imposed confin...
Primary Topic: Attitudes, media & governance
Lead investigator: Fortuna Casoria
Countries
The role of inter-temporal biases in influencing individuals’ demand for social distancing
We examine the economic determinants for social distancing in the context of Covid-19. Previous economics studies document the important role behavioral biases could play in inter-temporal decision-making. Viewing health in an inter-temporal framewor...
Primary Topic: Attitudes, media & governance
Secondary Topic: Health, physical & mental
Lead investigator: Plamen Nikolov
Countries
How does household spending respond to an epidemic? consumption during the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic
We explore how household consumption responds to epidemics, utilizing transaction-level household financial data to investigate the impact of the Covid-19 virus. As the number of cases grew, households began to radically alter their typical spending ...
Primary Topic: Families & households
Secondary Topic: Inequality & poverty
Lead investigator: Scott R. Baker
Countries
Covid-19, city lockdowns, and air pollution: evidence from China
The rapid spread of Covid-19 is a global public health challenge. To prevent the escalation of its transmission, China locked down one-third of its cities and strictly restricted personal mobility and economic activities. Using timely and comprehensi...
Primary Topic: Science, technology & innovation
Lead investigator: Guojon He
Countries
Polarization and public health: partisan differences in social distancing during the Coronavirus pandemic
We study partisan differences in Americans' response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Political leaders and media outlets on the right and left have sent divergent messages about the severity of the crisis, which could impact the extent to which Republ...
Primary Topic: Attitudes, media & governance
Lead investigator: Hunt Allcott
Countries
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...
Primary Topic: Health, physical & mental
Secondary Topic: Inequality & poverty
Lead investigator: Wendy Janssens
Countries
Nowcasting Norwegian household consumption with debit card transaction data
The recent shutdown of significant portions of the worldwide economy, in order to restrain the outbreak of the coronavirus, has triggered a global recession. The uncertain consequences of the rapid spread of the virus and the induced infection contro...
Primary Topic: Recession & recovery
Lead investigator: Knut Are Aastveit
Countries
Birds of a feather lockdown together: mutual bird-human benefits during a global pandemic
Feeding backyard wildlife has impure public good characteristics – it can satisfy specific human motivations whilst also improving bird populations. We document a surge in human interest in connecting with wild birds during lockdowns to address the...
Primary Topic: Attitudes, media & governance
Lead investigator: Michael Brock
Contagion and migration in South Asia
The lockdown in South Asia has led to mass migration of people back to their home towns/villages as the work opportunities in urban centres shrink or are no longer available. This poses a public health risk to rural areas as migrants may spread the v...
Primary Topic: Inequality & poverty
Secondary Topic: Health, physical & mental
Lead investigator: Jean Nahrae Lee
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