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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.

RELIEF centre

The Future Education team of the RELIEF Centre have started a collaboration with the Lebanese University (LU) to develop a massive online open course (MOOC) focused on remote learning, framed within the context of the Covid-19 pandemic but also appli...
Lead investigator: Diana Laurillard
Countries

Covid-19: identifying effective remote literacy teaching methods for primary-aged children

This research project stems from a direct appeal from our UK teacher collaborators, who suddenly face having to teach pupils online, with scant training and patchy evidence on how to do so effectively. We aim to identify effective remote, evidence-ba...
Lead investigator: Manon Jones
Countries

A duty of care and a duty to teach: educational priorities in response to the Covid-19 lockdown

This research explores the challenges the Covid-19 crisis sets primary schools, using surveys and telephone interviews to analyse how teachers weigh a duty of care (for their pupils’ well-being and welfare) and a duty to teach (given their responsi...
Lead investigator: Gemma Moss
Countries

Assessing inequality in the school closure response to Covid-19

The spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) has caused school closures in more than 190 countries, affecting over 90% of the world’s student population. School closures can widen learning inequalities and disproportionately hurt vulnerable st...
Lead investigator: Xiqian Cai
Countries

Improving task completion by school principals during the Covid-19 crisis

We study whether neutral, positive, or negative reinforcement messages given to schools’ principals can improve their bureaucratic efficiency in times of crisis. Under the Covid-19 health emergency urgency, the Ministry of Education asked all schoo...
Lead investigator: Daniel Morales

Parental job loss and job insecurity during the Covid-19 pandemic and children’s outcomes

The aim of this research is to study how job loss and felt job insecurity due to the Covid19 pandemic are impacting factors that directly affect the cognitive and non-cognitive achievement of children: parental mental and physical health, income, tim...
Secondary Topic: Inequality & poverty
Lead investigator: Jenifer Ruiz-Valenzuela
Countries

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

Covid-19-related school closures: impact on students in their final high school years

Students in their final high school years are faced with long lasting career decisions under high uncertainty and they are pressured to perform well in their high-stake exams. The government regulations following the Covid-19 pandemic such as school ...
Lead investigator: Malte Sandner
Countries

Improving bureaucratic effectiveness during the Covid-19 crisis

We study whether positive and negative reinforcement messages to supervisors can help improve bureaucratic outcomes in times of crisis. In many parts of the developing world, it is difficult to get bureaucrats to complete tasks. Focusing on school pr...

The short run and long run effects of Covid-19 on children’s human capital and labor.

The Covid-19 crisis is likely to bring to the surface weaknesses in the education system of developing countries, with the poorest sections of the population being disproportionately adversely affected. With the social-distancing measures having clos...
Secondary Topic: Inequality & poverty
Lead investigator: Samreen Malik
Countries

The effects of marketing inclusivity in the wake of Covid-19 on university matriculation

We conducted a randomized controlled trial (RCT) aimed at increasing application and matriculation rates among women (and underrepresented minority (URM) women) at California Polytechnic State University’s College of Business. RCT marketing address...
Secondary Topic: Inequality & poverty
Lead investigator: Jacqueline Doremus
Countries

Covid-19 and educational inequality – evidence from Germany

In spring 2020, governments around the globe shut down schools to mitigate the spread of the novel coronavirus. We conduct a large-scale survey in Germany to study parent-child time use during the educational shutdown. Focusing on differences across ...
Secondary Topic: Inequality & poverty
Lead investigator: Elisabeth Grewenig
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