Thread by @MinneapolisFed

In 2020, Opportunity & Inclusive Growth Institute scholars conducted research on diverse topics, from Covid to urban growth to taxes. Each day, we will revisit a 2020 #OIGI working paper in this thread. For the first time, it’s an #OIGI Year in Review! 1/

In a prescient Feb paper, Osotimehin & @LatchezarP looked at how price distortions in one industry affect economic conditions in other industries, a finding relevant to the pandemic economy, when many industries faced significant disruption. Summary at
minneapolisfed.org/article/2020/h… 2/

When the Covid pandemic hit, #OIGI scholars started studying how the health and economic crises were impacting different people, places, and industries. 3/

Osotimehin & @LatchezarP built on their earlier work to show how Covid's health & economic risks to workers vary by sector. Risk can cascade from sectors directly affected by shutdowns (e.g. retail) to other sectors that depend on them (e.g. textiles). 4/
minneapolisfed.org/research/insti…

#OIGI Director @AbigailWozniak fielded the @COVIDImpact study to analyze effects of the pandemic on physical, mental, & economic well-being. Declines were largest for Hispanic, younger & lower-earning individuals as well as people w/school-age kids. 5/
minneapolisfed.org/research/insti…

Many employers use self-reported screening to keep Covid out of workplaces. @KristaRuffini @aaronsojourner @AbigailWozniak find the specific questions that are used determine which employees and how many will screen positive every day. Summary at
minneapolisfed.org/article/2020/h… 6/

To facilitate pandemic-related research, Couture, @TradeDiversion, @allisonegreen, @jessiehandbury, and Williams used smartphone data to create measures of people’s movement, social contact, and economic activity. Summary at
minneapolisfed.org/article/2020/h… 7/

Analyzing phone GPS data is how @MilenaAlmagro @josh_coven @arpitrage identified why Blacks, Latinos & lower-income individuals in NYC had higher rates of Covid infections: they are more likely to commute to essential jobs and live in crowded housing. 8/
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When schools and daycares shut down due to Covid, it was mothers, not fathers, who took leave from work to care for kids, @m_heggeness found, indicating mothers’ careers remain vulnerable to events that trigger an increase in domestic tasks. Summary at
minneapolisfed.org/article/2020/j… 9/

Jobs that can be done remotely are concentrated in big cities. Few were remote until Covid, however. Result: customer service workers in cities suffered more than counterparts elsewhere, @fpeckert @AlthoffLukas @sharatganapati @Conor_A_Walsh show. 10/

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Opportunity & Inclusive Growth Institute researchers in 2020 touched on a range of topics in addition to Covid, including how urban growth, wage differences, labor supply, taxes, immigration, and social insurance relate to economic opportunity and inclusion. 11/

.@fpeckert @sharatganapati @Conor_A_Walsh show big US cities' economies grew quickly 1980–2015 because:
•they have large high-skill/IT service industries
•wages in those industries grew a lot
•most of that wage growth happened in large cities.
minneapolisfed.org/research/insti… 12/

Refugees in Denmark who were assigned to live in Copenhagen saw much faster wage growth than refugees settled elsewhere, @fpeckert, @MadsHejlesen, and @Conor_A_Walsh find, because they found high-skill jobs in more productive firms. 13/

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Property taxes for Black & Hispanic homeowners are systematically ⬆️ than for White homeowners, Avenancio-León & Howard find; assessments don't account for neighborhood attributes. Linking assessments to zip-code-level price indexes would be fairer. 14/
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High earners in the US work and earn more in response to low-skill immigration, Mark Colas and @Dominik_Sachs explain, so tax revenue goes up. This indirect fiscal benefit comes to $700-2,100 a year per immigrant. 15/
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To understand why income per person varies across countries, Alviarez, Cravino & Ramondo create a measure of firm productivity due to firm-specific factors that can be transferred w/in firms across countries, such as blueprints & management practices. 16/
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Under U.S. tax law, most married couples file jointly, meaning some married earners pay more taxes than they would if unmarried. @M_De_Nardi, Yang & Borella find eliminating this policy would increase women’s participation in the labor force. 17/

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People over age 65 who experience a temporary health setback decrease their consumption mainly because they get less enjoyment from consuming, not because their income declines, report @R_Blundell_UCL @joj_como @M_De_Nardi and Borella 18/
minneapolisfed.org/research/insti…

.@M_De_Nardi @MarikeKnoef @GonPazPardo @RaunVanOoijen and Fellla identify which workers’ earnings change the most from year to year, creating earnings risk. They then compare how workers in the U.S. & the Netherlands protect against such risk. 19/
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The final 2020 #OIGI paper by @M_De_Nardi, @GonPazPardo, Fella analyzes wage risk, labor supply, & self-insurance for both households & single people. This nuanced understanding helps evaluate how tax and welfare policies affect different households. 20/
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And that’s a wrap! Visit minneapolisfed.org/institute/conn… to sign up to receive updates on Opportunity & Inclusive Growth Institute research in 2021! #OIGI 21/21