In a new peer reviewed study in Health Affairs, Eric Reinhart and Daniel Chen show that being temporarily jailed (a.k.a. jail cycling) is correlated with Covid-19 infection

To gain a rapid estimate of how the coronavirus pandemic is affecting the Swedish economy and labour market, the Riksbank has expanded its collection and compilation of high-frequency data, known as real-time indicators. The Riksbank has opened an experimental public channel, through which academics and private companies can contribute data and visualisations in real time. These indicators are used for analysis and some of them are also reported in the Monetary Policy Reports.

Swedish GDP closely follows that of our most important trading partners. In this Economic Commentary, network member Paola Di Casola and co-authors Y. Akkaya, C.-J. Belfrage and V. Corbo (Monetary Policy Department, Riksbank) discuss some of the reasons why the relationship between Sweden's and other countries’ GDP development may differ from what we have observed historically.

In a recent working paper “Projecting the potential impacts of COVID-19school closures on academic achievement ” Megan Kuhfeld, James Soland, Beth Tarasawa, Angela Johnson, Erik Ruzek, Jing Liu use previous estimates on effects of school closures and absenteeism to project the potential learning losses due to the corona pandemic in the USA.

The Riksbank has put together a database with high-frequency data about the Swedish economy. Other government agencies have taken similar initiatives.

Network member Dirk Niepelt and coauthor Martín Gonzalez-Eiras embed lockdown choice in a simplified SIR model and solve for the optimal length and intensity of lockdown, assuming a trade-off between health and output.

Exports are important for the Swedish economy. Measures to counteract the spread of the corona virus in the form of closed borders and strict restrictions have slowed global trade. What are the consequences of the corona pandemic for international trade and the global supply chains? How seriously are Swedish exports affected? And how do companies handle the challenge?

In an op-ed in Svenska Dagbladet, Herman Holm (psychiatry) and network member Daniel Spiro (economics) outline society’s broad needs for testing. They mention four aspects of the crisis that can be alleviated by extensive testing: medical, mental health, economic, and information-based decision-making. Taking these aspects into account the conclusion is that Sweden’s current ambition of 100 000 tests per week needs to be increased manifold.

Combining ideas from several fields of mathematics - tropical geometry, Perron-Frobenius theory, probability and optimisation, transport PDE in population dynamics - a new study provides an algorithm to monitor the epidemic based on medical emergency calls.

A new report written by an expert group chaired by Steinar Holden and commissioned by the Norwegian Directorate of Health assesses the socio-economic effects of infection control and prevention measures.