The worldwide COVID-19 pandemic is causing a significant change in my research focus. As a labor economist, I investigate the determinants of worker’s compensation and employment. In the past, I have investigated examined factors that cause wage differences across workers, such as minimum wage laws, discrimination, fringe benefits, and labor unions. Now, I will focus on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has caused the swiftest economic decline in history and the highest unemployment rate since the Great Depression, which lasted a decade between 1929-1939. The pandemic has already had substantial effects on employment—layoffs, furloughs—and work patterns—working from home—in the U.S. These effects have varied substantially across states, city size, industries, and occupations, and by age, gender, and race.
My primary research focus is an investigation of the employment and work hour effects of COVID-19 in the United States. My analysis will examine the downturn in the labor market as well as its recovery until COVID-19 is no longer a substantial threat. The recovery in employment and earnings may occur more slowly than first thought, absent widespread availability of COVID-19 testing and subsequent development of an effective vaccine. The speed of recovery is likely to vary substantially both across states and between highly and less-populated labor markets.
The pandemic is also causing changes in how I am revising my co-authored Economics: Private and Public Choice textbook. We are adding a special topic on the economic impacts of COVID-19 and government policy responses as well as discussions throughout the book on issues such as price gouging. I will be including these discussions in my “Principles of Microeconomics” classes this fall. Students will, unfortunately, be able to apply their own personal stories to the analysis of the COVID-19 induced economic fallout.