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.
How effective are social distancing policies? evidence on the fight against Covid-19 from Germany
To fight the spread of Covid-19, many countries implemented unprecedented social distancing policies. This is the first paper that uses an event-study approach to examine the effects of the German social distancing policies on (a) individual behavior...
Primary Topic: Health, physical & mental
Lead investigator: Ulrich Glogowsky
Countries
Does the EU convergence machine still work and how will the Covid-19 crisis impact it?
Economic convergence has been one of the explicit goals of the EU from its very beginning. The prospect of higher living standards has undeniably been a major attraction of EU membership. Conversely, economic divergence may undermine support for the ...
Primary Topic: Nations, regions & cities
Secondary Topic: Public spending, taxes & debt
Lead investigator: Patrick Bisciari
Uncovering the effects of Covid-19 on wellbeing and economic decision-making
To counter the public health emergency caused by the spread of Covid-19, “stay-at-home” executive order have been issued in most states across the U.S.. Because of the social distancing measures, the fear of income and employment losses and the f...
Primary Topic: Health, physical & mental
Secondary Topic: Attitudes, media & governance
Lead investigator: Andreas Loschel
Countries
Covid-19, the stability of preferences and environmental choices
Recent studies and surveys show that Covid-19 not only poses a threat to individuals’ physical health, but also threatens individuals’ mental health due to income and employment losses, changes in daily routines and the general increased fear and...
Primary Topic: Attitudes, media & governance
Lead investigator: Andreas Loschel
Countries
The impact of Covid-19 on paid and unpaid work in the family: an international comparison
The Covid-19 pandemic has led governments worldwide to lock down their counties for several weeks. With the aim to curb the spread of the virus, most people have had to stay at home, working from their dwelling, and schools are closed. The quarantine...
Primary Topic: Families & households
Secondary Topic: Inequality & poverty
Lead investigator: Lídia Farré
The physical cost of the Covid-19 lockdown for non-professional athletes.
We analyze the participation of non-professional athletes (NPAs) to sporting events (road cycling or running) that take place annually in Italy or the UK (further countries may be added later, depending on data availability). The Covid-19 lockdown in...
Primary Topic: Health, physical & mental
Lead investigator: Tommaso Reggiani
Are palliative cash transfers effective to counteract the effects of stay-at-home orders? evidence from Peru
Several governments in LAC are increasingly imposing mandatory quarantines for all citizens to contain the expansion of the Covid-19 pandemic. These measures have proved to be the most effective to flatten the curve, but their downside are the econom...
Primary Topic: Jobs, work, pay & benefits
Secondary Topic: Inequality & poverty
Lead investigator: Matthew Bird
Countries
Covid-19, lockdown and health: the role of air pollution
This paper studies the impact of a prefecture’s lockdown measure in China (Out-side Hubei province), in response to the outbreak of Covid-19, on its air pollution and Covid-19 related health outcomes. In doing that, we use a difference-in-differenc...
Primary Topic: Health, physical & mental
Lead investigator: Linyuan Huang
Countries
Household behaviour: the Covid-19 “dance” phase
Until a vaccine arrives, forecasting economic activity is even more difficult than usual. For example, in the UK it is striking to see the difference between the IMF’s baseline scenario GDP loss of 6.5% for 2020, and the Office for Budget Responsib...
Primary Topic: Recession & recovery
Secondary Topic: Attitudes, media & governance
Lead investigator: Stefanie J. Huber
Understanding the rise of domestic violence during the Covid-19 pandemic. Evidence from Spain.
Domestic Violence can have serious negative consequences, with wide-ranging psychological, economic and physical effects for women and children over their lifetimes. Early evidence from most affected countries (China, Italy, Spain) suggests that dome...
Primary Topic: Crime & policing
Lead investigator: Daniel Fernandez-Kranz
Countries
Life in social isolation
The global pandemic of Covid19 has forced many people around the world to suddenly live in social isolation. The consequences of mass-scale social isolation on individuals’ mental health and wellbeing are still unknown. In this project, we study th...
Primary Topic: Health, physical & mental
Secondary Topic: Families & households
Lead investigator: Marina Della Giusta
Social connections with Covid-19-affected areas increase compliance with mobility restrictions
We study the role of social connections in households’ responses to mobility restrictions imposed amid the Covid-19 epidemic, using aggregated and anonymized Facebook data on social connections and mobile phone data for tracking movement. Measured ...
Primary Topic: Inequality & poverty
Secondary Topic: Families & households
Lead investigator: Ben Charoenwong
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
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...
Primary Topic: Attitudes, media & governance
Lead investigator: Vincenzo Carrieri
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
Covid-19, stay-at-home orders and well-being: evidence from Google trends
We investigate the impact of the government response to Covid-19 on health and well-being using Google Trends Data. More precisely, we aim to test the impact of stay-at home orders on 12 Google Trends topics related to health and well-being in the US...
Primary Topic: Health, physical & mental
Secondary Topic: Families & households
Lead investigator: Abel Brodeur
Daily monitoring of economic activity in North America by electricity consumption
Amid the Covid-19 outbreak, governments across the globe mandated lockdowns that brought economic activity to an abrupt halt. In normal times, to gauge about the level of economic activity, policymakers consider an extensive set of macroeconomic data...
Primary Topic: Recession & recovery
Secondary Topic: Jobs, work, pay & benefits
Lead investigator: Tatjana Dahlhaus
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
Tracking the economic impact of Covid-19 in Europe and the United States
We use high-frequency indicators available with little or no delay to obtain estimates of the economic impact of Covid-19 in Europe and the United States. We highlight the following findings. (1) Energy usage in Europe suggest that GDP has declined b...
Primary Topic: Recession & recovery
Secondary Topic: Jobs, work, pay & benefits
Lead investigator: Sophia Chen
