The response to the covid pandemic has varied widely across countries and over time. In this paper, we analyze the determinants of covid restrictions both theoretically and empirically. Consistent with our model’s predictions, we find that the covid protocol is particularly sensitive to the...

Senegal is a developing country in West Africa whose current economic crisis is intimately linked to the COVID-19 pandemic. Necessary containment measures brought with them a significant economic cost, and de-confinement was designed to obtain a quick economic recovery. At the same time,...

In the estimation of the benefits of mortality reduction, a simple approach is to multiply the value of a statistical life (VSL) by the expected reduction in fatalities, thus holding the VSL constant. This procedure approximates benefits for small changes in mortality, but inaccurately...

This paper studies how partial information regarding the true number of infected affects optimal mitigation and testing policies during the COVID-19 pandemic. We start by documenting two motivating observations which highlight the value of information: First, an overreaction in mitigation at the...

The elasticity of economic restrictions with respect to the virus's reproduction rate is higher in countries that had lower pre-pandemic levels of disposable income inequality. A stylized, heterogenous agents model with costly redistribution can account for that pattern. Our results suggest...

This paper combines a canonical epidemiology model of disease dynamics with government policy of lockdown and testing, and agents' decision to social distance in order to avoid getting infected. The model is calibrated with data on deaths and testing outcomes in the Unites States. It is shown...

We study the cyclicality of public R&D in 28 OECD countries (1995-2017). While procyclical on average, public R&D reacts asymmetrically over different phases of the business cycle and becomes acyclical during recessions. It is also heterogeneous across countries: Innovation leaders and followers...

It is politicians who have to decide when to release the lockdown, and in what way. In doing so, they have to balance many considerations (as with any decision). Often the different considerations appear incommensurable so that only the roughest of judgements can be made. For example, in the...

This paper studies optimal lockdown policies in a dynamic economy without government commitment. A lockdown imposes a cap on labor supply, which lowers economic output but improves health prospects. A government would like to commit to limit the extent of future lockdowns in order to increase...