How many people have already been infected with Covid-19? Without randomised mass testing, current estimates vary enormously. Meanwhile, post-lockdown policy choices based on this data are literally a matter of life and death. David Miles of Imperial College tells Tim Phillips about how he estimated the asymptomatic rate of infection, and the surprising result he found.
Video Vox
Annie Tubadji 05 June 2020
We know the probability of dying from COVID-19 is higher in certain deprived groups. In a new paper in Covid Economics, Annie Tubadji argues that “unprecedented economic and cultural class cleansing is occurring throughout the world during the COVID-19 pandemic”.
Dalia Marin 05 June 2020
Hyperglobalisation radically changed the global economy, but also meant that national economies became increasingly interdependent. So will Covid-19 start to unpick those connections? Dalia Marin of the Technical University of Munich thinks so.
Ricardo Reis 03 June 2020
Ricardo Reis, London School of Economics, talks to Tim Phillips. Swap lines between advanced economy central banks are a relatively recent and important part of the global financial architecture. How has their role been affected by Covid-19?
Lee Buchheit 21 May 2020
There are two phases needed in the response to help developing countries during the Covid-9 pandemic, the first is the need to get money into the hands of these countries, the second is the need for a more durable debt restructuring. Although China has joined with the other G20 countries in calling for a debt standstill, whether it will participate as a member of a coordinated form of that restructuring is an as-yet unresolved issue. Lee Buchheit (University of Edinburgh Law School) was speaking at CEPR / LSE IGA / SPP webinar on: Born Out of Necessity: A Debt Standstill for COVID-19, 7 May 2020.
Patrick Bolton 21 May 2020
Getting a debt relief organised without credit ratings downgrades is like making an omelette without breaking any eggs, says Patrick Bolton (Columbia Business School & CEPR). Even without a debt standstill, rating downgrades are to be expected, so they should not be a deciding factor in negotiations. Recorded during a CEPR / LSE IGA / SPP webinar on: Born Out of Necessity: A Debt Standstill for COVID-19, 7 May 2020
Carlo Favero, Franceso Figari 19 May 2020
Why was the mortality rate from Covid-19 so high in some regions of Italy, and how will the Italian welfare system compensate those who have survived the pandemic but lost their income.
Stephanie Schmitt-Grohe 16 May 2020
In New York City, coronavirus tests, contrary to some public perception, were actually administered more evenly across the population than income is. However, since tests were more likely to come back positive from areas with lower average income, targeting a higher proportion of tests at these areas will give a more accurate picture of incidence. Stephanie Schmitt-Grohé, Columbia University
Stephanie Schmitt-Grohe 16 May 2020
Stephanie Schmitt-Grohé and coauthors found that access to tests for coronavirus in New York City was surprisingly egalitarian: testing distribution was a good match for income distribution across the city.
Simon Evenett 13 May 2020
Taken from CEPR / LSE IGA / SPP webinar on: Covid-19: Keeping Trade Routes Open. 30 April 2020.
How long will the current Covid-led liberalisation of trade regimes towards medical products last and are their ways of encouraging countries to maintain them? Simon Evenett (University of St. Gallen and CEPR)