Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/229581 
Year of Publication: 
2020
Series/Report no.: 
CESifo Working Paper No. 8763
Publisher: 
Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute (CESifo), Munich
Abstract: 
We employ a new macro-epidemiological agent based model to evaluate the “lives vs livelihoods” trade-off brought to the fore by Covid-19. The disease spreads across the networks of agents’ social and economic contacts and feeds back on the economic dimension of the model through various channels such as employment and consumption demand. We show that under a lockdown scenario the model is able to closely reproduce the epidemiological dynamics of the first wave of the coronavirus epidemic in Lombardy. We then explore the efficacy of the fiscal response to Covid-19 which may take different routes: income support, liquidity provision, credit guarantees. In an agent based setting we gain additional insights on the way in which fiscal measures impact not only on GDP but also on the defaults of firms and the allocation of inputs. We find that liquidity support for firms, a short-time working scheme with compensation for workers, and direct transfer payments to households are effective policy tools to alleviate the economic impact of the epidemic and the lockdown.
Subjects: 
agent-based models
epidemic
Covid
fiscal policy
JEL: 
E21
E22
E24
E27
E62
E65
Document Type: 
Working Paper
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