It’s no surprise that consumer spending in the U.S. fell off a cliff in March. That’s when bars, concert halls, movie theaters and other nonessential businesses across much of the country shuttered to try to stem the spread of the new coronavirus. There’s a direct line between the ongoing lockdown and the coming decline in gross domestic […]
There’s a phenomenon economists call “agglomeration economies,” where a collection of companies become more efficient by being close to one another. The idea holds for people, too. When people cluster in dense places like cities, they share insights and resources. Strong social connections make for good economics. A recent working paper from the National Bureau of Economic […]
With confirmed cases of COVID-19 — the disease caused by a novel coronavirus — on the rise, organizations worldwide are encouraging or mandating that their employees telework. Federal agencies in the U.S. are prepping plans for hundreds of thousands of employees to work from home, if needed. Big tech firms like Amazon, Google and Facebook are asking some employees to telework. Universities around […]
