Nine NBER working papers distributed this week explore long- and short-run economic and social impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The studies explore evidence that the infection-rate curve in New York City is flattening, the possibilities for countering a demand-deficient recession, the impact of widespread business closures on women in the workforce, and the fraction of US jobs that can be done from home.

Other papers find that the 1918 influenza pandemic as well as other pandemics in past centuries have had effects that persisted over several decades.

In terms of market effects, researchers investigate why no previous infectious disease episode led to large daily stock price swings like those of the past month, why the volatility of returns may decline as the trajectory of the pandemic becomes clearer, and how patterns of household spending have varied with the rigor of containment efforts.

Other recent NBER studies of the impact of coronavirus containment efforts, as well as earlier studies of economic and other consequences of previous epidemics, are available here.