Schools are closed in Latin America. Around 154 million children between the ages of 5 and 18 are at home instead of in class. It is not clear how long these closures will last, and there is a good reason for that: Schools provide a perfect environment for the spread of viruses. Students are typically in close contact to one another, packed into classrooms, playing at recess, … [Read more...] about Pandemic and Inequality: How Much Human Capital Is Lost When Schools Close?
Social Issues
Social Distancing, Informality, and the Problem of Inequality
With more than a million people infected and tens of thousands of deaths around the world, governments are taking extreme but necessary measures to contain the coronavirus, prioritizing in almost all cases some form of social isolation or distancing. But the economic costs for everyone are not the same. The disease lays bare societies' inequalities, inflicting greater economic … [Read more...] about Social Distancing, Informality, and the Problem of Inequality
Coronavirus: The Logic of Serological Testing
A few weeks ago, I wrote a post for this blog discussing the Imperial College’s COVID-19 model, the model that has had the most significant impact on the public policy response to this virus. The post looked at the consequences—terrifying, for sure—of doing nothing, along with the impact of a series of mitigation and suppression policies on demand for hospitals and on the death … [Read more...] about Coronavirus: The Logic of Serological Testing
Novel Dataset Reveals the Deepening Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Inequality
The coronavirus pandemic is having unprecedented effects on the daily lives of citizens in Latin America and the Caribbean with especially dire impacts on lower income households that range from job and income losses to a lack of information on the disease itself. The situation is changing rapidly and requires prompt policy responses. Those are the initial conclusions from … [Read more...] about Novel Dataset Reveals the Deepening Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Inequality
Coronavirus Restrictions Lead to Improvement in Air Quality
A new coronavirus is sweeping the globe, and, as one of its by-products, deadly air pollution in many places is lifting. Consider the case of Chile. On March 3, Chile announced its first confirmed case of COVID-19. On March 18, it declared a state of catastrophe, and by March 25, the number of confirmed cases in the country had surpassed 1,000, with nearly 60% of the cases … [Read more...] about Coronavirus Restrictions Lead to Improvement in Air Quality