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.
Political beliefs affect compliance with Covid-19 social distancing orders
Social distancing is vital to mitigate the spread of the novel coronavirus. We use geolocation data to document that political beliefs present a significant limitation to the effectiveness of state-level social distancing orders. Residents in Republi...
Primary Topic: Attitudes, media & governance
Lead investigator: Marcus Painter
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
Covid-19 and investor behavior
In the beginning of January 2020, the Chinese authorities identified a novel type of the coronavirus, which rapidly spread from China all over the world. The World Health Organization characterized the spread of the novel coronavirus officially as a ...
Primary Topic: Attitudes, media & governance
Secondary Topic: Prices & interest rates
Lead investigator: Regina Ortmann
Countries
Political polarization, social fragmentation, and cooperation during a pandemic
We study the impact of political polarization on the willingness of people to comply with social distancing directives during the Covid-19 pandemic. We find a reduced compliance with these measures when the state governor differs from the preferred p...
Primary Topic: Attitudes, media & governance
Lead investigator: Boriana Miloucheva
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
What are the effects of the Covid-19 crisis on labor demand? an analysis using job board data from Austria
In this project, we examine to what extent labor demand, measured in terms of vacancy postings, has changed during the crisis. Using data on various job characteristics, we analyze what type of jobs are most affected. These characteristics include oc...
Primary Topic: Business, big & small
Secondary Topic: Jobs, work, pay & benefits
Lead investigator: Omar Bamieh
Countries
Locked-down in a welfare state: visible costs and hidden gains
I exploit the variation related to lock-down measures put in place in Italy (March 9, 2020) and Norway (March 12, 2020), to estimate the aggregate net costs for the government budget from unemployment insurance (defined as the most important building...
Primary Topic: Attitudes, media & governance
Secondary Topic: Jobs, work, pay & benefits
Lead investigator: Roberto Iacono
Covid-19 and small firms: expectations, relief take-up and firm dynamics
Many small businesses have already been deeply affected by the Covid-19 crisis, leading them to lay off employees, temporarily close shop, or go out of business completely. In response, governments have passed specific provisions to help support smal...
Primary Topic: Business, big & small
Lead investigator: John Eric Humphries
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
Evolution of atemporal and intertemporal risk preferences, time preferences, and subjective beliefs about prevalence and mortality of Covid-19 during the course of the global crisis: an incentivised experiment with American and South African samples
Policies adopted by most countries in 2020 for suppressing transmission of the novel coronavirus and of illness and mortality due to Covid-19 depend on compliance with mandated drastic and costly risk control measures by the general public. While res...
Lead investigator: Glenn W. Harrison
Countries
Income and wealth shocks and expectations during the Covid-19 pandemic
In early April 2020 we conducted a survey on a representative sample of more than 8,000 US households to study the effect of the coronavirus crisis on household income and retirement wealth, households' expectations about the recovery, and the i...
Primary Topic: Inequality & poverty
Secondary Topic: Recession & recovery
Lead investigator: Tobin Hanspal
Countries
Labour supply in the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic: empirical evidence on hours, home office, and expectations
Using a survey module administered in late March 2020, we analyze how working hours change under the social distancing regulations enacted to fight the Covid-19 pandemic. We study the Netherlands, which are a prototypical Western European country, bo...
Primary Topic: Jobs, work, pay & benefits
Lead investigator: Hans-Martin von Gaudecker
Countries
The impact of Covid-19 on the lives of women in the garment industry: evidence from Ethiopia
In this project, we conduct high-frequency phone surveys on a panel of women who work in garment factories in Ethiopia’s largest industrial park in the city of Hawassa to document how their lives are changing during the Covid-19 crisis. Sampling fr...
Primary Topic: Inequality & poverty
Secondary Topic: Recession & recovery
Lead investigator: Morgan Hardy
Countries
A cross country analyses of sentiments and emotions, before and after Covid-19, using big data
The main aim of this project is to analyse and compare sentiment and emotions of people in three countries, before and after the introduction of regulations to limit the spread of the Covid-19 virus. The uniqueness in the choice of the countries lies...
Primary Topic: Health, physical & mental
Lead investigator: Talita Greyling
Countries
Economic impacts of Covid-19 lockdowns on vulnerable populations: evidence from Jordan
This project examines the economic impact of Covid-19 lockdown policies in Jordan. It focuses on the distributional impacts across different segments of society: the rich and poor, formal and informal workers, occupations, industries, women and refug...
Primary Topic: Inequality & poverty
Secondary Topic: Transport & infrastructure
Lead investigator: Michael Gechter
Countries
Measuring risk and time preferences during the emergence of the Covid-19 crisis
We measure risk and time preferences, and examine the relationship with the disposition effect. Firstly, to estimate preferences, we use and compare several well-known quantitative and qualitative methods. Our main specification is an extended versio...
Primary Topic: Attitudes, media & governance
Secondary Topic: Pensions, savings & investment
Lead investigator: Jorgo T.G. Goossens
Countries
Our Covid story
Our Covid Story is a longitudinal study examining the impact of pandemic stress on health behaviors. Two cohorts of participants, from New York City and the broader United States, use a mobile app to complete approximately 5-10 minutes of self-report...
Primary Topic: Health, physical & mental
Lead investigator: Paul Glimcher
Countries
Political partisanship influences behavioral responses to governors' recommendations for Covid-19 prevention in the United States
Voluntary physical distancing is essential for preventing the spread of Covid-19. Political partisanship may influence individuals' responsiveness to recommendations from political leaders. Daily mobility during March 2020 was measured using loc...
Primary Topic: Attitudes, media & governance
Lead investigator: Guy Grossman
Countries
The short-term effect of quarantine requirement on domestic violence
Quarantines implemented worldwide following the spread of the coronavirus resulted in many people having to spend more time with their families and partners, which can potentially lead to an increase in intra-family violence. Our study seeks to asses...
Primary Topic: Crime & policing
Secondary Topic: Public spending, taxes & debt
Lead investigator: M. Amelia Gibbons
Countries
Labor market flows and the Covid-19 economy
I examine labor market flows in the CPS through March 2020. Although there was a dramatic single month increase in the unemployment rate and exit rate from employment, most cyclical flows (hiring, employer-to-employer flows, quits) have not yet chang...
Primary Topic: Jobs, work, pay & benefits
Lead investigator: Eliza Forsythe
Countries
