Unemployment Insurance Recipiency During the Covid-19 Pandemic

I estimate the share of eligible individuals who received unemployment insurance (UI) benefits during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. I use individual data on reported recipiency from the Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement (CPS-ASEC) survey to validate a UI eligibility algorithm that I then apply to the monthly CPS data. Combined with administrative data on actual payments and adjustments for fraud, I estimate that 88 percent of eligible individuals received UI benefits. When I calculate recipiency by program, I find 98 percent of individuals who were eligible for standard UI received benefits, whereas only 76 percent of individuals who were eligible for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance received benefits.

Delivering Aid to Businesses through the Payroll Tax System: The Case of the Employee Retention Credit

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress enacted the Employee Retention Credit (ERC), a payroll tax credit paid to firms experiencing pandemic-related hardship. This paper uses administrative tax data to study the claiming of this credit. While firms have claimed nearly $100 billion of the credit, we find take-up to be highly imperfect even in contexts where nearly universal eligibility is expected. We find that the credit was mostly paid as a lump sum after the end of the quarter. Finally, we find that the progressivity of the ERC depends on whether the incidence of the ERC fell on business owners or employees.

Transforming Collection Development through Three Rounds of Emergency Funding

This case study reports on critical aspects of utilizing over one million dollars in emergency funding during a two-year library closure. It also discusses the impact of federal emergency funding on the operations of an academic library during the COVID-19 pandemic and the implications for including financial priorities in disaster preparedness plans. Little research exists regarding libraries' response to emergency funding. One of the advantages of examining the impact of the pandemic on library responses is the ability to create a plan for future disasters and emergency funding for collection development.

Public sentiment and opinion regarding the CARES Act.

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act was the largest stimulus package in US history. In this paper, I look into whether public sentiment improved in response to the CARES Act, and analyze public opinion regarding the CARES Act, implementing a Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) model. The sentiment analysis results indicate a significant improvement of public sentiment following the announcement of the CARES Act, which fades away after a week but improves again as the date to receive the first stimulus check approaches. The topic modeling results highlight support toward certain programs and some criticism of the CARES Act.

Banking infrastructure and the Paycheck Protection Program during the Covid-19 pandemic

In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the US federal government distributed US$800 billion in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans to small businesses to preserve employment. Since PPP funding was transmitted through private banks, the characteristics of the regional banking market may have unevenly affected the programme's reach. This paper examines how variations in market concentration and the presence of community banks contributed to PPP disbursement in US counties. It finds that greater regional banking market concentration correlates with fewer PPP loans, but this negative relationship is mitigated by a greater presence of community banks in highly concentrated markets. © 2022 Regional Studies Association.

CARES and crime

Purpose: The US signed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act in March 2020 to alleviate the harsh economic effects of the pandemic and related shutdowns. A substantial part of the bill expanded and increased unemployment insurance payments, where a growing area of research estimates strong anti-poverty effects. The authors examine the effect of these policies on crime. Design/methodology/approach: The authors use new event study and difference-in-differences techniques to estimate the effect of increasing unemployment insurance payments on property crime and violent crime. Then, the authors estimate the effect of expanded unemployment qualification programs on crime. The authors use a rich set of controls including unemployment, contemporaneous policies and mobile device tracking data to estimate the degree to which people stayed at home. Findings: They find that increasing unemployment insurance payments decreased crime by 20%, driven by a 24% decrease in property crime. The authors also find suggestive evidence that expanding unemployment qualifications decreases crime. Practical implications: The authors find a new and substantial benefit of expanded unemployment insurance beyond their antipoverty effects. Originality/value: To the authors' knowledge, this is the first study that directly examines the impact of the CARES Act on crime. © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Transforming Collection Development through Three Rounds of Emergency Funding

This case study reports on critical aspects of utilizing over one million dollars in emergency funding during a two-year library closure. It also discusses the impact of federal emergency funding on the operations of an academic library during the COVID-19 pandemic and the implications for including financial priorities in disaster preparedness plans. Little research exists regarding libraries' response to emergency funding. One of the advantages of examining the impact of the pandemic on library responses is the ability to create a plan for future disasters and emergency funding for collection development.

Single borrowers versus coborrowers in the pandemic: Mortgage forbearance take-up and performance.

Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, policymakers initiated a forbearance program-that allowed borrowers to pause their mortgage payments-to prevent a large-scale foreclosure crisis. Using detailed loan-level performance data, we study forbearance take-up and subsequent performance among two distinct group of mortgage borrowers: single borrowers versus coborrowers. We provide stylized facts that compared to coborrowers, single borrowers have lower incomes, lower credit scores, higher loan-to-value ratios and higher debt-to-income ratios and are hence more financially vulnerable. We find that single borrowers are more apt to elect forbearance, all else constant. We further find that forbearance had a stronger positive effect on helping single borrowers avoid or recover and exit delinquency than coborrowers.

Participation in the CARES Act Provider Relief Fund policy by dentists in South Carolina's safety net.

OBJECTIVES: The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act appropriated $100 billion to the Provider Relief Fund, allowing for direct payments to health care providers due to COVID-19. Few studies have evaluated participation in the Provider Relief Fund (PRF), and none have specifically looked at dental providers in the safety net. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective, secondary data analysis using a quasi-experimental cohort design of South Carolina dentists who received PRF payments, comparing those who did and did not participate in the safety net. Safety net practice was operationalized as those participating in Medicaid, and whether they provided care in dental health professional shortage areas, or rural communities. RESULTS: Of the 628 dental providers in South Carolina who received PRF payments, 34% were identified as Medicaid providers while 66% did not participate in Medicaid; we found no statistical difference between payments to Medicaid versus non-Medicaid dental providers. Of PRF payments to dental providers participating in South Carolina's Medicaid program, we found no difference between payments to rural and urban providers but did find that practices offering services in dental care shortage areas received less than providers practicing in counties not designated as a shortage area. CONCLUSIONS: The PRF achieved its goal of distributing financial support to providers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. But without policy imperatives linked to need-based allocations or incentives for PRF recipients to serve safety net populations, we may later learn this was a missed opportunity for PRF.

CARES and crime

Purpose>The US signed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act in March 2020 to alleviate the harsh economic effects of the pandemic and related shutdowns. A substantial part of the bill expanded and increased unemployment insurance payments, where a growing area of research estimates strong anti-poverty effects. The authors examine the effect of these policies on crime.Design/methodology/approach>The authors use new event study and difference-in-differences techniques to estimate the effect of increasing unemployment insurance payments on property crime and violent crime. Then, the authors estimate the effect of expanded unemployment qualification programs on crime. The authors use a rich set of controls including unemployment, contemporaneous policies and mobile device tracking data to estimate the degree to which people stayed at home.Findings>They find that increasing unemployment insurance payments decreased crime by 20%, driven by a 24% decrease in property crime. The authors also find suggestive evidence that expanding unemployment qualifications decreases crime.Practical implications>The authors find a new and substantial benefit of expanded unemployment insurance beyond their antipoverty effects.Originality/value>To the authors' knowledge, this is the first study that directly examines the impact of the CARES Act on crime.

Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) COVID-19 relief funding for veteran-, minority-, and women- owned dental businesses: A cross-sectional study.

Background: The Covid-19 pandemic exacerbated dental staffing shortages, which impact care delivery and ultimately oral health equity. Federal funding efforts like the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) sought to aid traditionally underserved businesses including those owned by veterans, minority racial and ethnic groups, and women. Objectives: (1) To examine differences in PPP funding between veteran- and nonveteran-owned dental care delivery businesses and organizations and (2) to analyze other relevant factors associated with variation in PPP funding levels for dental businesses. Methods: Using publicly available PPP data, we ran unadjusted bivariable and adjusted multivariable linear regression models to estimate associations between loan approval amount and forgiveness amount, veteran status, and relevant covariates. Results: Minority racial and ethnic groups and women received less PPP funding and less loan forgiveness, on average, compared with non-minority groups. In the adjusted model with no missing self-reported demographic observations at p < 0.10, veterans received more PPP funding and loan forgiveness, on average, compared to non-veterans. Conclusion: To our knowledge, this is the first comprehensive analysis of all dental recipients of PPP funding throughout the United States. Despite PPP program intentions and strategies, traditionally underserved dental businesses did not receive increased funding to support employment.

Corporate governance and stock performance: The case of COVID-19 crisis

This paper analyzes the impact of COVID-19 on firm-level stock behaviors (including stock price volatility, trading volume and stock returns). Using US data, this paper examines whether confirmed cases (and deaths) of COVID-19 or COVID-19-associated online searches affect stock behaviors. The results show that our five COVID-19 proxies are all positively associated with stock price volatility and trading volume and negatively associ-ated with stock returns. This paper further investigates the mitigating effect of corporate governance (viz., board and ownership structures) in this COVID-19 crisis. Overall, the results suggest that good corporate governance can mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on stock price volatility and trading volume but may not help to enhance stock returns. This paper also considers key policies used to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic and finds that government intervention plays an important role in stabilizing stock markets in this COVID-19 crisis. (c) 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Exploratory study of credit-card indebtedness during the COVID-19 pandemic

The purpose of this research is to study the impact of the current COVID-19 global pandemic on the selected intrinsic and extrinsic factors associated with behaviour personal indebtedness;namely, the changing landscape of credit-card indebtedness. The hypotheses were derived from the literature and focuses on moderating aspects of financial knowledge and responsibility with potential gender bias in purchasing essentials and paying down current debt burden. It was found that financial knowledge was the most powerful factor of the many intrinsic/extrinsic motivational factors explored in predicting essential purchases and debt maintenance. There were some gender differences, but both strongly agreed that such debt would not negatively impact attaining their life’s goals. It appears that younger, lower-income professionals were more conscious about managing their debt than some older, more wealthy individuals. Credit-card rewards have always been a major motivating factor to induce credit-card use. In purchasing basic essentials, credit rewards were not found to be significant as financial knowledge and lifestyle images. Copyright © 2022 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

CARES and crime

Purpose The US signed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act in March 2020 to alleviate the harsh economic effects of the pandemic and related shutdowns. A substantial part of the bill expanded and increased unemployment insurance payments, where a growing area of research estimates strong anti-poverty effects. The authors examine the effect of these policies on crime. Design/methodology/approach The authors use new event study and difference-in-differences techniques to estimate the effect of increasing unemployment insurance payments on property crime and violent crime. Then, the authors estimate the effect of expanded unemployment qualification programs on crime. The authors use a rich set of controls including unemployment, contemporaneous policies and mobile device tracking data to estimate the degree to which people stayed at home. Findings They find that increasing unemployment insurance payments decreased crime by 20%, driven by a 24% decrease in property crime. The authors also find suggestive evidence that expanding unemployment qualifications decreases crime. Practical implications The authors find a new and substantial benefit of expanded unemployment insurance beyond their antipoverty effects. Originality/value To the authors' knowledge, this is the first study that directly examines the impact of the CARES Act on crime.

Airline market exit after a shock event: Insights from the COVID-19 pandemic.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, passenger demand for air transportation declined drastically. In the Unites States (U.S.), the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act provided financial assistance. In return, commercial passenger airlines were given minimum service obligations, which allowed airlines to remove markets (flights between origin and destination airport pairs) from their networks as long as they continued operating in all cities that they serviced pre-pandemic. A binary logit methodology is used to model airline-market level decisions to continue operating in a market or to exit it. Two time periods are modeled: during normal operating conditions (before the pandemic) and after a major shock event (after the beginning of the pandemic). Results show that after the pandemic, 8.4 times more airline markets are exited as compared to before. Interestingly, the probability of exit is found to vary widely across markets, airports, and airlines. Some market characteristics have a high probability of exit both before and after the pandemic, including low passenger revenue per available seat mile, low flight frequencies, and flights to/from multi-airport cities. In contrast, other market characteristics impact airlines' market exit decisions in only one time period rather than both. For example, during normal operating conditions, airport size does not impact market exit. However, after the pandemic, the probability of exit is 1.8 to 2.2 times higher for the larger hub airports as compared to the smallest airports (non-hubs), a result that is explained within the context of the CARES Act minimum service obligations.

The Psychology of COVID-19 Economic Impact Payment Use.

This study investigates how American adults' personality and financial self-efficacy (FSE) beliefs contributed to how they used their COVID-19 CARES Act Economic Impact Payment (EIP) for spending needs, spending wants, and financial transactions (save, invest, debt repayment). The results from a sample of 1172 Amazon MTurk users collected in July 2020 suggest that both personality traits and FSE beliefs were associated with EIP use. Specifically, this study finds that FSE and conscientiousness emerged as the most robust predictors of EIP use across all categories of financial behavior with a greater allocation of EIP funds to saving and less to spending needs and debt repayment. Additionally, greater FSE is associated with investing, while greater conscientiousness is connected to more spending on wants. The results suggest that saving habits associated with personality and FSE persist in a crisis environment, and pre-crisis preparedness may allow for greater spending flexibility on wants. Significant relationships were also found for openness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. The findings highlight how people use unexpected financial windfalls during crises and uncertainty and how personal characteristics contribute to this decision making. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10834-021-09804-1.

President Biden at a Crossroads: Will He Choose the Path of Reform or the Path of Backlash?

President Joe Biden and the Democratic Party are at a crossroads on the issue of criminal justice reform. Facing both a backlash and continued bipartisan support for many reforms, President Biden has so far chosen not to make criminal justice reform a priority for the White House, despite running for president on a platform that made more than one hundred commitments on reform. While President Biden hesitates on the issue, advocates continue to push, building strong coalitions and forcing the administration to act. The public, including Republicans and Independents, also continues to understand the need for criminal justice reform, as indicated in recent polling, even as it hesitates on some of the bolder ideas for reform.This article reviews the recent controversy over the issue of COVID-related transfers of people from prisons to home confinement, and the threat of their reimprisonment, to assess the broader question of which path will President Biden and Democrats choose: reform or backlash? Will the White House and Democrats build on the years of bipartisan support for criminal justice reform and push for popular policies, like drug law reform, as President Biden promised on the campaign trail? Or will it retreat from its campaign commitments in the face of a backlash? This article makes the case for the White House to provide leadership on criminal justice reform and recognize the strong bipartisan support for the issue, despite the challenges posed by a backlash.

Delivering Unemployment Assistance in Times of Crisis: Scalable Cloud Solutions Can Keep Essential Government Programs Running and Supporting Those in Need

The COVID-19 public health emergency caused widespread economic shutdown and unemployment. The resulting surge in Unemployment Insurance claims threatened to overwhelm the legacy systems state workforce agencies rely on to collect, process, and pay claims. In Rhode Island, we developed a scalable cloud solution to collect Pandemic Unemployment Assistance claims as part of a new program created under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act to extend unemployment benefits to independent contractors and gig-economy workers not covered by traditional Unemployment Insurance. Our new system was developed, tested, and deployed within 10 days following the passage of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, making Rhode Island the first state in the nation to collect, validate, and pay Pandemic Unemployment Assistance claims. A cloud-enhanced interactive voice response system was deployed a week later to handle the corresponding surge in weekly certifications for continuing unemployment benefits. Cloud solutions can augment legacy systems by offloading processes that are more efficiently handled in modern scalable systems, reserving the limited resources of legacy systems for what they were originally designed. This agile use of combined technologies allowed Rhode Island to deliver timely Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits with an estimated cost savings of $502,000 (representing a 411% return on investment). © 2020 Owner/Author.

Food Hardship in the US During the Pandemic: What Can We Learn From Real-Time Data?

We study the potential effect of the declaration of the state of emergency, the beginning and end of the stay-at-home orders, and the one-off Economic Impact Payments on food hardship in the US during the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic. We use daily data from Google Trends for the search term "foodbank" and document the development of a hunger crisis, as indicated by the number of individuals who need to locate a food pantry through the internet. The demand for charitable food handouts begins to decrease once families start receiving the stimulus payments, but the biggest fall comes when economic activity resumes after the lifting of the lockdown orders. Our estimates indicate that the increased need for emergency help among vulnerable families lasted for at least 10 weeks during the first wave of the pandemic, and we argue that real-time data can be useful in predicting such urgency.