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.
The real-time economic effects of Covid-19 in the United Kingdom
This project will examine the microeconomic impacts of the Covid pandemic and lockdown on UK businesses and its interaction with the UK’s decision to leave the European Union. The project will deliver two key outputs, which are fundamental to desig...
Primary Topic: Business, big & small
Secondary Topic: Attitudes, media & governance
Lead investigator: Swati Dhingra
Countries
Covid-19: supporting parents, adolescents and children during epidemics (Co-SPACE)
Covid-19 and the related public health measures have led to major disruptions to families’ lives, with different pressures arising for children, young people and their families over time. There is some indication from research during epidemics in o...
Primary Topic: Health, physical & mental
Secondary Topic: Families & households
Lead investigator: Polly Waite
Understanding Society Covid-19 study
Understanding Society has launched a new monthly survey to look at the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the UK population. This has been funded by ESRC though the study’s discretionary budget and a £200k award from the Health Foundation. The ...
Primary Topic: Health, physical & mental
Secondary Topic: Inequality & poverty
Lead investigator: Michaela Benzeval
Countries
Covid-19: industry level origins of changes in economic welfare
We provide an analysis of how the decline in aggregate UK economic welfare caused by Covid-19 is related to industry-level measures of economic activity. By exploiting data on asset prices, we perform our analysis in real time. We find significant as...
Primary Topic: Health, physical & mental
Secondary Topic: Prices & interest rates
Lead investigator: Harjoat S. Bhamra
Countries
The heterogeneous labor market impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic
We study the distributional consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic's impacts on employment. Using CPS data on stocks and flows, we show that the pandemic has exacerbated pre-existing inequalities. Although employment losses have been widespread, ...
Primary Topic: Jobs, work, pay & benefits
Lead investigator: Matias Cortes
Countries
Assessing impacts on and resilience to food insecurity amid the Covid-19 lockdowns in Nigeria
As of the end of May 2020, there have been over 9000 cases and over 260 deaths from Covid-19 in Nigeria and cases have been rising quickly in recent weeks. To prevent the spread of the virus, governments in multiple states have imposed lockdowns. Whi...
Primary Topic: Health, physical & mental
Secondary Topic: Inequality & poverty
Lead investigator: Elena M Martinez
Countries
Covid-19 shocking global value chains
The Covid-19 epidemic hit China in December 2019. Even before it turned into a pandemic, Covid-19 has strongly affected the world economy through global value chains. We use a quantitative trade model with input-output linkages to gauge the effects o...
Primary Topic: Trade & supply chains
Secondary Topic: Recession & recovery
Lead investigator: Peter Eppinger
Countries
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...
Primary Topic: Schools, universities & training
Secondary Topic: Inequality & poverty
Lead investigator: Jenifer Ruiz-Valenzuela
Countries
The short- and long-term consequences of Covid-19 on gender equality
The Covid-19 crisis has substantially affected the organisation of work in the labor market and in the household. In particular, with the start of the lock-down, virtually none of the typical components of home production can be outsourced to the mar...
Primary Topic: Families & households
Secondary Topic: Inequality & poverty
Lead investigator: Claudia Hupkau
Countries
The effect of Covid-19 on labor market flows by occupation and gender
For the US and Canada, we compare the Covid-19 effect on gender in terms of labour flows including movements in and out of employment, unemployment and non-participation as well as the allocations across occupations. In particular, we categorize occu...
Primary Topic: Jobs, work, pay & benefits
Secondary Topic: Inequality & poverty
Lead investigator: Audra J. Bowlus
The impact of Covid-19 lockdown on employment and mental health
Enforcing social distancing via economy-wide lockdown is considered as an effective measure to prevent transmission of the novel coronavirus Covid-19. Consequently, accompanied by a large number of job losses, a lockdown has severe labor market and e...
Primary Topic: Jobs, work, pay & benefits
Secondary Topic: Health, physical & mental
Lead investigator: Kabir Dasgupta
Countries
Expectations and behavior of firms in response to the Covid-19 pandemic
In March 2020, the German government implemented measures in response to the COVID19 pandemic that effectively led to a shutdown of a significant share of the economy. We study how firms adjusted to the ensuing crisis along different margins, includi...
Primary Topic: Business, big & small
Secondary Topic: Attitudes, media & governance
Lead investigator: Sebastian Link
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
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
Macroeconomic effects and spillovers among countries of the Covid-19 pandemic
Since December 2019, the Covid-19 pandemic spread worldwide from China, passing to Europe in February 2020, and lastly in the US, in March 2020. According to the Air Transport Association, in February 2020 the global growth rate of air passengers dem...
Primary Topic: Recession & recovery
Lead investigator: Francesco Simone Lucid
Food and nutrition security in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia during Covid‑19 pandemic
On March 13th, the first Covid-19 case was confirmed in Ethiopia. Three days later, the government closed schools, banned all public gatherings and sporting activities, and recommended social distancing. Other measures to contain the spread of the vi...
Primary Topic: Families & households
Secondary Topic: Inequality & poverty
Lead investigator: Kalle Hirvonen
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
International trade during a pandemic: boon or bane? a structural gravity approach
We empirically estimate the effects of the Corona pandemic on international trade. One hypothesis is that economies with a high degree of trade diversification are less harmed by pandemic-induced disruptions of trade flows. This analysis will give re...
Primary Topic: Trade & supply chains
Secondary Topic: Recession & recovery
Lead investigator: Daniel Osberghaus
Countries
Heterogeneous consumption and income responses during the Covid-19 crisis
This project aims to examine the distributional consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic using the Singapore Life Panel (SLP), a unique monthly panel dataset which contains detailed information on income, consumption and wealth for a representative samp...
Primary Topic: Families & households
Secondary Topic: Inequality & poverty
Lead investigator: Jing Li
Countries
Covid-19 and disadvantage in New York City: a study using data from the Robin Hood and Columbia University poverty tracker and early childhood poverty tracker
Within two weeks, the Covid-19 pandemic drastically altered life in New York City, wreaking havoc on the personal and economic health of the City’s population. This study employs data from the Robin Hood and Columbia University Poverty Tracker and ...
Primary Topic: Jobs, work, pay & benefits
Secondary Topic: Inequality & poverty
Lead investigator: Jane Waldfogel
Countries
