Although face masks reduce the chance of transmission of coronavirus, some governments have been reluctant to make their use mandatory in public places. People’s behaviour is likely to change when wearing masks, but will the risk of infections rise or fall?

India's recorded coronavirus case total has surpassed that of Brazil, making India the second worst-affected country in the world after the United States. Prominent Indian economists worry about the management of the country's lockdown, explain the puzzle of its case fatality rate, and identify ways forward for the recovery of its economy.

A new working paper by network member Flavio Toxvaerd, together with Robert Rowthorn considers a SIR model of infectious diseases, such as COVID-19 or swine flu, in which costly treatment or vaccination confers immunity on recovered individuals. Once immune, individuals indirectly protect the remaining susceptibles, who benefit from a measure of herd immunity. Treatment and vaccination are shown to have radically different effects and desirability at different stages of the epidemic.

Debraj Ray (NYU) and Sreenivasan Subramanian (Chennai, India) write a very powerful critique of India's COVID-19 lockdown policy, that rings true much more broadly. Lockdowns and social distancing can at best slow down the progression of the pandemic, and that at a cost. Medical and economic resources need to be created and mobilised to face the longer-run and deeper issues originating from the crisis, and not many governments are working in this direction.

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The Center for the Study of Political Organisation at Södertörn University invites to a discussion focusing on the consequences of various policy responses to the covid-19 pandemic for politics and political organising in Germany, Russia and Sweden.

How effective are restrictions on geographic mobility in limiting the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic?

The overall Covid19 Infection Fatality Rate (IFR) for a given location is intrinsically linked to the age-specific pattern of infections.

The World Bank has published a new book on “Global Productivity: Trends, Drivers, and Policies”, edited by Alistair Dieppe, with a database covering 164 countries over 1980-2018. The book analyses the long-run trend in global productivity but covers also the potential effects of Covid-19.

A new working paper from Marta Giagheddu and Andrea Papetti illustrates the pros and cons of different combinations of economic shutdown and targeted social distancing with a special focus on the dimension of intergenerational contacts.