Geographic dispersion and corporate resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This study demonstrates the positive role of geographic dispersion in corporate resilience to the COVID-19 pandemic in the context of China. This association is more pronounced when firms are highly dependent on the domestic market, less likely to obtain enough financing, highly apply digital technology, and have low customer concentration. This association is attributable to the following three channels: a diversified portfolio, the maintenance of business relationships, and access to non-local resources. Overall, our findings provide a more nuanced picture of the potential impacts of corporate diversification on corporate resilience.

Sleeplessness in COVID-19 pandemic: Lockdown and anxiety.

This paper investigates the sleeplessness in Chinese cities during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. We provide first evidence of a link from daily COVID-19 cases resulting in sleep loss in a panel of Chinese cities. We use Wuhan, which was the first city to be completely locked down, as basis to present the result that sleeplessness has become a considerably serious issue owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. In using the intervention policy of various cities as exogenous shocks, we find that lockdown policies significantly increase the sleeplessness level of Chinese cities. In addition, the severity of COVID-19 pandemic significantly exacerbates the negative effect of lockdown policies on sleep quality in the city. Overall, this study indicates that policy makers should pay more attention to public mental health when citizens recover from COIVD-19 by investigating the unintended consequences of COVID-19 on sleeplessness level of cities.

Effects of the COVID-19 on Air Quality: Human Mobility, Spillover Effects, and City Connections.

We quantify the causal effects of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on air quality in the context of China. Using the lockdowns in different cities as exogenous shocks, our difference-in-differences estimations show that lockdown policies significantly reduced air pollution by 12% on average. Based on the first lockdown city, Wuhan, we present three underlying mechanisms driving our findings: anticipatory effects, spillover effects, and a city's level of connection with Wuhan. Our findings are more pronounced in cities whose population was more willing to self-isolate or more susceptible to anxiety, or whose government faces less pressure to stimulate economic growth. Overall, this study contributes to the literature by evaluating the unintended consequences of the COVID-19 outbreak for air quality, and provides timely policy implications for policymakers.