Catherine Porter (Lancaster University) talks to Tim Phillips about her work on how the lives of adolescents in Low- and Middle- Income countries have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and related economic downturn, using data from a large-scale phone survey conducted in four countries. Relative gains in the well-being of young people over the last twenty years or so have been lost in many cases and it is likely that the consequences of education dropout and links to potential mental health issues may mean the effects are long lasting in the absence of interventions to support young people’s wellbeing and livelihoods.
The paper behind this research is available for free download:
Young Lives, interrupted: Short-term Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Adolescents in Low- and Middle-Income Countries by Marta Favara, Richard Freund, Catherine Porter, Alan Sánchez, Douglas Scott (CEPR Covid Economics Papers, 04/02/2021 https://cepr.org/sites/default/files/CovidEconomics67.pdf )

One of Stephanie Schmitt Grohé's research areas is record-low interest rates and low inflation over a long period of time. While too high levels of inflation are undesirable, Schmitt-Grohé explains that moderate inflation is a sign of a healthy economy as it, in multiple dimensions, aids the growth of an economy. Unfortunately, though, many countries have been undershooting their inflation target for years, which may impact the public opinion on central banks’ ability to steer the economy.

The UK's recovery is heavily weighted towards the “home counties” around outer London and the South. Utilising Fable Data: a real-time source of consumption data that is a highly correlated, leading indicator of Bank of England and Office for National Statistics data, Ben Guttman-Kenney and colleagues observe a stark contrast between strong online spending growth while offline spending contracts with patterns of regional difference in spending matching lockdown tier levels. To prevent such COVID-19-driven regional inequalities from becoming persistent they propose governments introduce temporary, regionally-targeted interventions in 2021.

You can read the full paper behind this research here: A Levelling Down and the COVID-19 Lockdowns: Uneven Regional Recovery in UK Consumer Spending John Gathergood, Fabian Gunzinger, Benedict Guttman-Kenney, Edika Quispe-Torreblanca, and Neil Stewart https://cepr.online/CE67

Michael Kende (Graduate Institute) talks to Tim Phillips about the lack of digital trust in contact tracing apps which could help control the pandemic, save lives, and normalise our societies and how this is a major wake-up call.