The corona crisis and its economic consequences

Based on close to real-time register data, we will document the magnitude, dynamics and socio-economic characteristics of the corona crisis and its recovery, the impact of the various government crisis measures, along with analyses of the economic recovery across individuals, families, businesses, sectors and regions. The research activities will be partly descriptive (what happened during the crisis and its recovery?), partly designed to identify mechanisms (why did it happen?), and partly designed to evaluate effects of policies (what should we do about it?). Central topics include • An analysis of individual job losses, subsequent unemployment durations and their ultimate outcomes • An examination of the distributional consequences of the crisis and the extent to which social insurance programs contributed to a fair burden sharing • A closer look at spillovers across industries and the economy's ability to reallocate workers and entrepreneurs from declining to growing industries • An examination of the matching efficiency between unemployed workers and vacancies, with the aim of identifying mismatches related to skills and geography • A study of how migration patterns responded to the crisis, and how this affected job opportunities for native workers and the availability of labor demanded by Norwegian firms. • An examination of how the crisis affected entrepreneurship and an evaluation of the extent to which Norwegian labor market policies are designed to encourage the creation of new jobs. • An analysis of how the crisis affected educational choices during the Spring 2020 • An effect analysis of Norwegian labor market programs during an era of mass layoffs • An assessment of the major economic support packages implemented by the Norwegian government, including the changes in the unemployment insurance program and the introduction of cash support to cover firms' unavoidable fixed costs • An examination of the role expectations for firms' investment behavior