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Covid-19 and Firms: Productivity and Government Policies

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  • Santos, Cezar
  • Kozeniauskas, Nicholas
  • Moreira, Pedro

Abstract

This paper investigates how the Covid-19 pandemic has affected firms and which firms have benefited from government support. Using a panel survey of Portuguese firms conducted during the pandemic matched with pre-Covid administrative data, the results show that the shock was large, but heterogeneous across firms. Though most firms experienced declines in sales, high productivity firms were more likely to remain open, less likely to cut employment and made less use of government support.

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  • Santos, Cezar & Kozeniauskas, Nicholas & Moreira, Pedro, 2020. "Covid-19 and Firms: Productivity and Government Policies," CEPR Discussion Papers 15156, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:15156
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Robert W. Fairlie, 2020. "The Impact of Covid-19 on Small Business Owners: The First Three Months after Social-Distancing Restrictions," CESifo Working Paper Series 8581, CESifo.
    2. Luiz Brotherhood & Philipp Kircher & Cezar Santos & Michèle Tertilt, 2020. "An Economic Model of the Covid-19 Epidemic: The Importance of Testing and Age-Specific Policies," CESifo Working Paper Series 8316, CESifo.
    3. Lucia Foster & John C. Haltiwanger & C. J. Krizan, 2001. "Aggregate Productivity Growth: Lessons from Microeconomic Evidence," NBER Chapters, in: New Developments in Productivity Analysis, pages 303-372, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Brotherhood, Luiz & Kircher, Philipp & Santos, Cezar & Tertilt, Michèle, 2020. "An economic model of the Covid-19 epidemic: The importance of testing and age-specific policies," CEPR Discussion Papers 14695, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    5. Granja, João & Makridis, Christos & Yannelis, Constantine & Zwick, Eric, 2022. "Did the paycheck protection program hit the target?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(3), pages 725-761.
    6. Robert Fairlie, 2020. "The impact of COVID‐19 on small business owners: Evidence from the first three months after widespread social‐distancing restrictions," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(4), pages 727-740, October.
    7. Humphries, John Eric & Neilson, Christopher A. & Ulyssea, Gabriel, 2020. "Information frictions and access to the Paycheck Protection Program," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    8. Brotherhood, Luiz & Kircher, Philipp & Santos, Cezar & Tertilt, Michèle, 2020. "An economic model of the Covid-19 epidemic: The importance of testing and age-specific policies," CEPR Discussion Papers 14695, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    9. Fairlie, Robert, 2020. "The impact of COVID‐19 on small business owners: Evidence from the first three months after widespread social‐distancing restrictions," Santa Cruz Department of Economics, Working Paper Series qt1n60b6p6, Department of Economics, UC Santa Cruz.
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    Cited by:

    1. Harasztosi, Péter & Savšek, Simon, 2022. "Productivity and responses to the pandemic: Firm-level evidence," EIB Working Papers 2022/09, European Investment Bank (EIB).
    2. Polo, Andrea & Altavilla, Carlo & Ellul, Andrew & Pagano, Marco & Vlassopoulos, Thomas, 2021. "Loan Guarantees, Bank Lending and Credit Risk Reallocation," CEPR Discussion Papers 16727, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    3. Miriam Bruhn & Asli Demirguc-Kunt & Dorothe Singer, 2023. "Competition and firm recovery post-COVID-19," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 61(4), pages 1555-1586, December.
    4. Webster Allan & Khorana Sangeeta & Pastore Francesco, 2022. "The effects of COVID-19 on employment, labor markets, and gender equality in Central America," IZA Journal of Development and Migration, Sciendo & Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 13(1), pages 1-43, January.
    5. Luca Casolaro & Francesco Suppressa, 2023. "Credit during the pandemics: the case of Tuscany," Discussion Papers 2023/296, Dipartimento di Economia e Management (DEM), University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
    6. Xavier Cirera & Marcio Cruz & Elwyn Davies & Arti Grover & Leonardo Iacovone & Jose Ernesto Lopez Cordova & Denis Medvedev & Franklin Okechukwu Maduko & Gaurav Nayyar & Santiago Reyes Ortega & Jesica , 2021. "Policies to Support Businesses through the COVID-19 Shock: A Firm Level Perspective [Economic Uncertainty before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic]," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 36(1), pages 41-66.
    7. Cristina Constantinescu & Ana Margarida Fernandes & Arti Grover & Stavros Poupakis & Santiago Reyes, 2022. "Globally Engaged Firms in the Covid-19 Crisis," CESifo Working Paper Series 9711, CESifo.
    8. Guerrero-Amezaga, Maria Elena & Humphries, John Eric & Neilson, Christopher A. & Shimberg, Naomi & Ulyssea, Gabriel, 2022. "Small firms and the pandemic: Evidence from Latin America," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    9. Amin,Mohammad & Viganola,Domenico, 2021. "Does Better Access to Finance Help Firms Deal with the COVID-19 Pandemic ? Evidence from Firm-Level Survey Data," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9697, The World Bank.
    10. Benedikt Janzen & Doina Maria Radulescu, 2021. "Effects of Covid-19 Related Government Response Stringency and Support Policies: Evidence from European Firms," CESifo Working Paper Series 9116, CESifo.
    11. Barbakadze, I., 2023. "With a Little Help from My Friend: Political Connections and Allocation of COVID-19 Aid," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 2355, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    12. Barbieri, Claudio & Couaillier, Cyril & Perales, Cristian & Rodriguez d’Acri, Costanza, 2022. "Informing macroprudential policy choices using credit supply and demand decompositions," Working Paper Series 2702, European Central Bank.
    13. Janzen, Benedikt & Radulescu, Doina, 2022. "Effects of COVID-19 related government response stringency and support policies: Evidence from European firms," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 129-145.
    14. Syed Abdul Rehman Khan & Danish Iqbal Godil & Munaza Bibi & Zhang Yu & Syed Muhammad Ahsan Rizvi, 2021. "The Economic and Social Impact of Teleworking in Romania: Present Practices and Post Pandemic Developments," The AMFITEATRU ECONOMIC journal, Academy of Economic Studies - Bucharest, Romania, vol. 23(58), pages 787-787, August.
    15. Bennedsen, Morten & Larsen, Birthe & Schmutte, Ian M. & Scur, Daniela, 2023. "The effect of preserving job matches during a crisis," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    16. Köllő, János & Reizer, Balázs, 2021. "A koronavírus-járvány első hullámának hatása a foglalkoztatásra és a vállalatok árbevételére [The effect of the first wave of Covid pandemic on employment and firm revenue]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(4), pages 345-374.
    17. Alfano, Vincenzo & Ercolano, Salvatore & Pinto, Mauro, 2022. "Carrot and stick: Economic support and stringency policies in response to COVID-19," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).

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