Roundup: U.S. Trade, Housing and Central Bank Responses to the COVID-19 Crisis

Responses of International Central Banks to the COVID-19 Crisis

This article reviews and explains the recent policy reactions of the Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, the Bank of England and the Bank of Japan to the financial and macroeconomic turmoil caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Their financial and policy actions have, by some metrics, surpassed their responses to the global financial crisis of 2007-09 in both swiftness and scope.

The Economic Effects of the 2018 U.S. Trade Policy: A State-Level Analysis

This analysis covers the effect of changes in trade policy during the 2018-19 trade war on U.S. economic activity. It suggests that states that were very exposed to trade at the onset of the trade war experienced worse outcomes in terms of employment and output growth.

Investors and Housing Affordability

This paper studies the impact of a new class of investors on the dynamics of U.S. housing affordability after the financial crisis.

The COVID-19-induced “she-cession”

Economic downturns have tended to affect men’s employment more than women’s, which gave rise to terms such as “he-cession” or “man-cession” and “he-covery.” Although this dynamic was true at the time of the Great Recession, it doesn’t hold true for the COVID-19-induced recession.