Economic Impacts | Research + Perspectives for the Pandemic
 

(from left) Steve Koonin, Kerry Emanuel, and moderator Brad Skow sit at a table in front of an audience discussing climate change challenges. There are bottles of water on the table at which they are seated. The screen behind them features an image of a slide being projected with a web address visible that reads civildiscourse.mit.edu.

A civil discourse on climate change

The forum is the first in a series planned at MIT this year, part of an initiative meant to encourage the open exchange of ideas.

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MIT SHASS MEDIA PUBLICATIONS

At-A-Glance | List of external media publications
 

Research-based insights, for policy and public understanding of the Covid-19 pandemic, from the MIT-SHASS academic community

MIT Economics entrance

ECONOMIC IMPACTS

COVID-19 Research Working Papers from MIT Economics
 

As research continues into Covid-19 and its impact on many facets of life, MIT Economics has collected all the faculty's working papers on one page. 

nurse testing for covid-19

ECONOMIC IMPACTS

Conditions needed to reopen the U.S. economy
 

Here’s what economists say the U.S. needs in order to start returning to normal amid the coronavirus outbreak — and how the economy can survive in the meantime.

photo of Kathleen Thelen, MIT political scientist

ECONOMIC IMPACTS

Europe has kept down pandemic unemploymentand the U.S. hasn’t. Here’s why.
 

Kathleen Thelen, Ford Professor of Political Science, examines disparities in US and European unemployment rates in the face of Covid-19

ECONOMIC IMPACTS

Life Under Quarantine
 

MIT economist Jeffrey E. Harris reflects on the economics of quarantine in a series of articles.

MIT health economist Jon Gruber

ECONOMIC IMPACT

Can the economy recover in parts of the country as early as May 2020? (No.)
 

In an interview with ABC News, professor of economics Jonathan Gruber discusses the benefits of the stimulus package, and says that social distancing and economic measures “won’t end until we have a vaccine.”

Photo of an American state capitol building

RESEARCH

J-PAL North America | Covid19 Evidence Portal
 

The new Covid19 Evidence Portal synthesizes rigorous research across health, education, and the social safety net to provide recommendations to state and local leaders responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.

medical ventilator

ECONOMIC IMPACTS + HEALTHCARE ETHICS

MIT economist Parag Pathak shares a new research paper about ventilator rationing schemes.
 

New Paper: In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, the rationing of medical resources has become a critical issue. Nearly all existing triage protocols are based on a priority point system, in which an explicit formula specifies the order in which the total supply of a particular resource, such as a ventilator, is to be rationed for eligible patients.

photo of Jeffrey E Harris - economist and physician

HEALTH + ECONOMIC IMPACTS | TELEMEDICINE

3Q: A doctor’s view from the front lines
 

SHASS News: Physician and MIT economist Jeffrey E. Harris shares insights on healthcare during the Covid-19 pandemic and the vital role of telehealth.

wash your hands sign

HEALTHCARE + ECONOMIC IMPACTS

J-PAL's response to Covid-19
 

The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) has organized an ongoing, evolving response to the Covid-19 pandemic. See initiatives for off-cycle funding rounds for Covid-related research projects. 

ECONOMIC IMPACTS + HEALTH

Why we need to ease access to the safety net — now
 

In Governing magazine, MIT health economist Amy Finkelstein writes the economic devastation of the coronavirus pandemic is making benefit programs more important than ever.

sick leave emblem

ECONOMIC IMPACTS | HEALTH POLICY

MIT economist Jonathan Gruber calls for federal sick leave program in wake of the pandemic
 

On Boston Public Radio, Gruber warns that without federal intervention the lack of economic productivity due to workers missing work could lead to a chain of events that ripples through the economy.

Photo of Amy Finkelstein

HEALTH | ECONOMIC IMPACTS

A healthy understanding
 

MIT professor of economics Amy Finkelstein has changed what we know about Medicaid, Medicare, the economics of health care — and, increasingly, medical care itself.

detail, map of NYC subway system

HEALTHCARE + HEALTH ECONOMICS

Subways seeded the massive coronavirus epidemic in New York City
 

In a new working paper, Professor of Economics Jeffrey E. Harris writes that New York City’s multi-tentacled subway system was a major disseminator – if not the principal transmission vehicle – of coronavirus infection.

American military troops

CIVIC PERSPECTIVES + ECONOMIC IMPACTS

How coronavirus will affect the US military
 

Yes, modern armies rely on equipment and training — and a healthy fighting force. Rachel Tecott and Erik Sand, MIT Political Science PhD candidates, comment on US military readiness in The Washington Post.  

ECONOMIC IMPACTS | HEALTHCARE POLICY

Interview with Amy Finkelstein
 

Federal Reserve Bank Interview Finkelstein's gift for combining data and theory has revealed subtleties of economic behavior that long eluded the profession. And she’s applied this talent to improve understanding and policy in health insurance — one of the most complex, expensive and contentious areas of public discourse.