COVID-19 Thought Leadership Digest: May 29, 2020

Since our last newsletter, Booth faculty have produced several new working papers on the Paycheck Protection Program, reallocation measures, and antibody testing.

We've also started a new content series focused on how students and faculty are adapting to the new remote learning environment. Our first two stories highlight Advanced Negotiations with George Wu and the New Venture Challenge with Mark Tebbe. Find these stories and other faculty insights on the pandemic below.

COVID-19 Research and Insights from Chicago Booth Review

Will COVID-19 speed up the drug-approval process?
Booth's Joshua P. Fairbank explains how US regulators are working with private companies to speed up the creation and approval of treatments and vaccines.

How COVID-19 is disrupting business, financial markets, and public policy
Professor Steven J. Davis discusses the long-lasting effects of the virus.

What has to happen for people to go back to work
In a COVID-19 Q&A, Chad Syverson shares expert insight on the economic recovery. 

What's the mental toll of life during a pandemic?
Booth's Ayelet Fishbach explains how policymakers can help people cope with uncertainty amid the pandemic.

Follow CBR's COVID-19 page and social channels for the latest insights from Booth faculty.

Select Thought Leadership in the Media

The ways the UK economy is responding to COVID-19 differently than the US
July 8 | Newsweek
Randall Kroszner says that while the UK and US both have a "very strong monetary policy response," the UK has been much more supportive of cultural institutions.

Return to work with Rep. McHenry
July 8 | Bloomberg Surveillance Podcast
Austan Goolsbee says the economies in the US and Sweden will have a hard time recovering if the virus is not contained soon.

Economists think Congress could create an economic disaster this summer
July 7 | FiveThirtyEight
In a survey coauthored by the Initiative on Global Markets, economists said a refusal to extend unemployment benefits or bail out state and local governments is likely to hurt the economy.

Pursue self-interest by helping other economies too
July 6 | Financial Times
Struggling economies must control the virus to minimize damage, says Raghuram Rajan.

Big data suggests a difficult recovery in US jobs market
July 5 | Financial Times
According to Erik Hurst, the 20 percent employment contraction in mid-April was largely tied to small companies in the consumer services sector.

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

COVID-19 Content across Booth

Inside the remote learning classroom
When Advanced Negotiations shifted online, professor George Wu and his students adapted quickly—and discovered unexpected upsides to the virtual format.

How one of Booth's most intense classes had a banner year online
Amid the pandemic, students worried the New Venture Challenge would be too hard to move online. Learn how they rose to the occasion with professor Mark Tebbe's guidance.

Building lasting relationships
Kate Nimmo, '20, shares how faculty, including professor Greg Bunch, stayed closely connected with students even as learning moved online during the Spring Quarter.

How COVID-19 is changing Americans' behaviors, expectations, and political views
Check out the latest results from the joint Rustandy Center, UChicago Poverty Lab, and NORC survey of US households.

Pandemic Economics: The virus is the boss
On BFI’s podcast, Austan Goolsbee and Chad Syverson share new research exploring whether government policy is driving consumer behavior or fear of infection.

Should small businesses consider bankruptcy? A new Capitalisn't reading list
The coronavirus has been especially hard on small businesses. Luigi Zingales explains how bankruptcy works for them and how the system needs to change.

ProMarket: What comes next for economic policies to combat COVID-19?
Douglas Diamond, Steven Kaplan, Anil Kashyap, Raghuram Rajan, Robert Vishny, and Luigi Zingales debate possible policy solutions to the long-term shocks of the COVID-19 crisis.

BFI Working Papers

Who CARES? Evidence on the corporate tax provisions of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act from SEC filings
Booth's John Gallemore and coauthors find that tax provisions weren't likely to benefit firms in greater need of liquidity during the pandemic.

Did the Paycheck Protection Program hit the target?
PPP funds did not flow to areas more adversely affected by the pandemic, according to research by João Granja, Constantine Yannelis, and Eric Zwick.

COVID-19 is also a reallocation shock
Steven J. Davis and coauthors construct novel, forward-looking reallocation measures for jobs and sales.

Estimation of COVID-19 prevalence from serology rests: A partial identification approach
Research by Panos Toulis suggests that serology testing on a massive scale can give crucial information for future policy design.