Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/248821 
Year of Publication: 
2020
Series/Report no.: 
JRC Working Papers on Taxation and Structural Reforms No. 08/2020
Publisher: 
European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), Seville
Abstract: 
The COVID-19 pandemic has inflicted an economic hardship unprecedented for the modern age. In this paper, we show that the health crisis and ensuing Great Lockdown, came with an unseen level of economic uncertainty. First, using a European dataset on country-level and regional internet searches, we document a substantial increase in people's economic anxiety in the months following the coronavirus outbreak. Moreover, we observe a significant, coinciding slowdown in labour markets and (durable) consumption. Second, our analysis shows that the ensuing fear was signific antly more outspoken in those EU countries hit hardest in economic terms. Finally, we show that economic anxiety during the Great Lockdown is similar or higher than during the Great Recession of 2007- 2009. Unprecedented policy actions, such as the short-term working schemes implemented or reformed at the onset of the COVID crisis, however, do not seem to have mitigated overall ec onomic anxiety.
Subjects: 
COVID-19
economic uncertainty
employment
expectations
Google Trends
JEL: 
D12
D83
D84
E32
J60
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by Logo
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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