Home-working and remote social interactions during the pandemic have relied on high-quality infrastructure for digital communication – and despite a huge increase in demand, the network has largely delivered. The next challenge is to ensure universal access at moderate cost. Throughout the Covid-19 crisis, we have relied on digital platforms for everything from home-schooling and […]
Category: Science, technology & innovation
New technologies, such as 5G telecommunications, self-driving vehicles and mRNA-based drugs and vaccines, have the potential to shape our future. Anticipation of their impact may already be affecting the economy today. Over the past year, there has been a surge in the use and development of new technologies, as well as new applications for existing […]
In a pandemic, policy-makers need to plan healthcare provision carefully and adjust the intensity of measures to mitigate the spread of the virus. That requires real-time forecasts of cases and deaths that are timely and accurate indicators of what will happen over the next week or so. We all forecast many things every day, even […]
Public and private sector organisations across the world are working on vaccines and medicines to fight the coronavirus. What kinds of incentives are most effective in promoting the development of new medical technologies and the rapid manufacture of tests and treatments? As the health and economic costs of the pandemic continue to grow, there is […]
Re-opening the economy while minimising infections requires testing – but capacity is limited. To target testing well, policy-makers must consider the types, quality and timing of tests, the costs of errors and the risks of infection across different social groups. Governments around the world are having to make difficult choices about the allocation of limited […]
Coronavirus has had an extraordinary impact on economists’ efforts to communicate their analysis and research findings to the wider world. Working papers, blog posts and even books are contributing to our understanding of the Covid-19 crisis and how we should respond. In the world of academic economics, there are strong incentives to write articles for […]