The COVID-19 pandemic has had far-reaching effects on all aspects of society. With an eye toward examining these myriad angles, the Department of Economics has assembled a wide range of research covering topics from how lockdowns affect non-COVID visits to the emergency room to the long-term effects of social and economic distancing. The repository for these projects is the content-rich Penn Institute for Economic Research (PIER) web site.
“We’re working on putting all our energy into examining the pandemic from our different points of view,” says José-Víctor Ríos-Rull, Lawrence R. Klein Professor of Economics, who is taking over the directorship of PIER this summer. “The research, which is all put together within the Department of Economics at Penn, includes measurement, policy, long-run effects, and many other related issues.”
Ríos-Rull takes over from Enrique G. Mendoza, Presidential Professor of Economics, whose six-year term as PIER director concludes in June. The two worked jointly in setting up the PIER COVID-19 website.
Read more in the most recent issue of Omnia Magazine.