COVID-19 Thought Leadership Digest: May 19, 2020

As the week draws to a close, we bring you a sample of the latest articles, media clips, and webinars highlighting the Booth community's efforts to combat the pandemic. Items include a faculty research update on COVID-19's impact on small businesses and a Full-Time MBA student's work designing India's official contact tracing app.  

COVID-19 Research and Insights from Chicago Booth Review

How COVID-19 shocked both supply and demand
Research from Booth's Veronica Guerrieri and coauthors suggests that stimulus and social support should both have a role in the policy response.

Video: Is the Fed being too bold in its response to the crisis?
The Fed has proven concerns about its ability to respond to a crisis were unfounded, suggests Booth's Randall S. Kroszner. But how much risk should it take on?

Video: What issues could hinder an international economic recovery?
Booth's Brent Neiman explains that some practices in the issuance of debt could become international economic problems during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Why US unemployment is even worse than the official numbers say
The employment picture is much worse when you factor in those who've dropped out of the labor force, suggests research coauthored by Booth's Michael Weber.

Video: What will be the long-term psychological impact of COVID-19?
Booth's Nicholas Epley says the pandemic could hamper social behavior—or remind us of its importance.

Lessons from the Great Recession
The Kilts Center has collated a sample of papers leveraging its Nielsen Datasets that provide clues on the likely patterns of consumer and company response to the pending economic crisis.

Follow CBR's newly redesigned COVID-19 page and social channels to stay current.

Select Thought Leadership in the Media

US leaders should approach current economic issues as a venture capitalist would, according to an economist from Chicago Booth
May 14 | Business Insider
In an interview, Booth's Anil Kashyap shares his outlook for the US economy and what policy prescriptions would be the most effective.

If saving during a pandemic is hard, here's how to stay motivated
May 14 | The Wall Street Journal
Booth's Abigail Sussman suggests that maintaining a savings mindset can help people stay focused on long-term goals even as they take on debt.

Fed chair warns of long, painful downturn if Congress does not provide more economic relief
May 13 | The Washington Post
With lawmakers and the White House in a standoff about next steps in the pandemic, Randall S. Kroszner says, "The Fed will do what it can, but it is not all-powerful."

Over one-third of Indian households may run out of resources in another week
May 13 | The Economic Times
Nearly 84 percent of households in India have suffered a decrease in monthly income during lockdown, according to a new study coauthored by Booth's Marianne Bertrand.

To stay up-to-date with media mentions, follow Booth's In the News page and social channels.

COVID-19 Content Across Booth

Booth Stories: Big problems and big solutions
Full-Time MBA student Aalekh Sharan helped design the algorithm for India's COVID-19 contact tracing app, leveraging insights from Booth to balance efficiency and ethical considerations.

How are Indian households coping under the COVID-19 lockdown? 8 key findings
Marianne Bertrand and coauthors share insights from their study on how economic lockdown has impacted the daily lives of Indians on the Rustandy Center's blog.

Week 5 and 6: Labor market impacts of COVID-19 on businesses: Update with Homebase data through May 9
In this update from the Rustandy and Poverty Lab study, Marianne Bertrand and coauthors find that beauty and personal care firms are among the businesses most likely to have reopened. 

Pandemic Economics: Jobs lost and the child care conundrum
On BFI's podcast, Erik Hurst provides context to the staggering unemployment numbers, and Joseph Vavra shares his work on childcare, a critical hurdle for parents to get back to work.

Upcoming Webinars

Capital and ideology: Inequality, COVID-19 and beyond
Monday, May 18, Noon
Join the Stigler Center for a conversation with professor Robert H. Topel and other experts on the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on capitalism.

COVID-19 and Amazon's Future
Tuesday, May 26, Noon
Join the Stigler Center for a conversation with Booth's Steven Kaplan and Local Self-Reliance's Shay Mitchell about COVID-19's impact on Amazon and its competitors. The conversation will be moderated by the Wall Street Journal's Jacob Schlesinger.