small businesses during Covid-19
216350586
How are Small Businesses Adjusting to Covid 19? Early Evidence from a Survey
In addition to its impact on public health, COVID 19 has had a major impact on the economy To shed light on how COVID 19 is affecting small businesses aEUR" and on
SSRN Electronic Journal
Alexander W Bartik Marianne Bertrand Zoe B Cullen Edward L Glaeser Michael Luca Christopher T Stanton
218999654
The Evolving Impacts of COVID 19 on Small Businesses Since the CARES Act
This note provides new evidence on how small business owners have been impacted by COVID 19, and how these ei!EURects have evolved since the passage of the CARES Ac
John Eric Humphries Christopher A Neilson Gabriel Ulyssea
216330713
How to Help Small Businesses Survive COVID 19
Small businesses are among the hardest hit by the COVID 19 crisis. Many are shuttered, and far more face cash flow constraints, raising questions about just how many will survive this recession. The government has responded with a critical forgivable loan program, but for many of these businesses, this program alone will not provide the cash they need to retain workers, pay rent, and help their business come back to life when Americans are no longer sheltering in place. This essay calls on regulators to find new and creative ways to work with existing intermediaries, including banks and online lenders, who have the infrastructure and tools needed to help small businesses get the additional loans they need to survive and thrive. Leveraging existing institutions could enhance the speed, scale, and scope of the government's response, all critical virtues in the efforts to support small business.
Todd Baker Kathryn Judge
219384757
How are Small Businesses Adjusting to COVID 19? Early Evidence from a Survey
In addition to its impact on public health, COVID 19 has had a major impact on the economy. To shed light on how COVID 19 is affecting small businesses and on the likely impact of the recent stimulus bill, we conducted a survey of more than 5,800 small businesses. Several main themes emerge from the results. First, mass layoffs and closures have already occurred. In our sample, 43 percent of businesses are temporarily closed, and businesses have on average reduced their employee counts by 40 percent relative to January. Second, consistent with previous literature, we find that many small businesses are financially fragile. For example, the median business has more than $10,000 in monthly expenses and less than one month of cash on hand. Third, businesses have widely varying beliefs about the likely duration of COVID related disruptions. Fourth, the majority of businesses planned to seek funding through the CARES act. However, many anticipated problems with accessing the aid, such as bureaucratic hassles and difficulties establishing eligibility.
Alexander W Bartik Marianne Bertrand Zoe B Cullen Edward L Glaeser Michael Luca Christopher T Stanton
229161809
How Are Small Businesses Adjusting to COVID 19? Early Evidence from a Survey
In addition to its impact on public health, COVID 19 has had a major impact on the economy. To shed light on how COVID 19 is affecting small businesses and on the likely impact of the recent stimulus bill, we conducted a survey of more than 5,800 small businesses. Several main themes emerge from the results. First, mass layoffs and closures have already occurred. In our sample, 43 percent of businesses are temporarily closed, and businesses have on average reduced their employee counts by 40 percent relative to January. Second, consistent with previous literature, we find that many small businesses are financially fragile. For example, the median business has more than $10,000 in monthly expenses and less than one month of cash on hand. Third, businesses have widely varying beliefs about the likely duration of COVID related disruptions. Fourth, the majority of businesses planned to seek funding through the CARES act. However, many anticipated problems with accessing the aid, such as bureaucratic hassles and difficulties establishing eligibility.
Alexander W Bartik Marianne Bertrand Zoe B Cullen Edward L Glaeser Michael Luca Christopher T Stanton
216487563
Dickinson College Students Help Local Small Businesses Weather COVID 19 Shutdown
As businesses close their doors during the COVID 19 pandemic, computer science majors are helping Carlisle's vulnerable small businesses by developing websites for online sales.
Mary Jackson
221098195
The potential economic impacts of COVID 19 on families, small businesses, and communities
With the World Health Organization designating COVID 19 a global pandemic, the novel coronavirus is spreading in the U.S. at a pace that requires significant policy and personal interventions to contain and treat it. The economic impacts on households, businesses, and financial markets could be profound. JPMorgan Chase Institute research speaks directly to ways in which families, small businesses, and communities may be impacted by the effects of COVID 19, as well as how decision makers could shape policies to mitigate negative impacts. Below, we describe four key imperatives to weaken the blow from COVID 19 on societal welfare: keeping people safe and healthy; ensuring access to adequate income to meet basic needs; understanding the distinctive risks to small businesses; and boosting liquidity for households and small businesses. We describe lessons learned from natural disasters, like the Harvey and Irma hurricanes and specific potential interventions for policymakers, employers, and other influencers to provide relief from the economic effects of COVID 19.
Diana Farrell Fiona Greig Chris Wheat
221459956
The impact of COVID 19 on small business owners: Evidence from the first 3 months after widespread social distancing restrictions
Abstract Social distancing restrictions and health and economic driven demand shifts from COVID 19 are expected to shutter many small businesses and entrepreneurial ventures, but there is very little early evidence on impacts. This paper provides the first analysis of impacts of the pandemic on the number of active small businesses in the United States using nationally representative data from the April 2020 Current Population Survey the first month fully capturing early effects. The number of active business owners in the United States plummeted by 3.3 million or 22% over the crucial 2 month window from February to April 2020. The drop in active business owners was the largest on record, and losses to business activity were felt across nearly all industries. African American businesses were hit especially hard experiencing a 41% drop in business activity. Latinx business owner activity fell by 32% and Asian business owner activity dropped by 26% Simulations indicate that industry compositions partly placed these groups at a higher risk of business activity losses. Immigrant business owners experienced substantial losses in business activity of 36% Female business owners were also disproportionately affected (25% drop in business activity) Continuing the analysis in May and June, the number of active business owners remained low down by 15% and 8% respectively. The continued losses in May and June, and partial rebounds from April were felt across all demographic groups and most industries. These findings of early stage losses to small business activity have important implications for policy, income losses, and future economic inequality.
Journal of economics management strategy
Robert W Fairlie
218804550
The Effects of Small Firm Loan Guarantees in the UK: Insights for the COVID 19 Pandemic Crisis
Loan guarantees are popular policy responses during the COVID 19 crisis. Despite their prevalence, evidence of their effectiveness is sparse. We estimate the impacts of UK guarantees during the Great Recession, by exploiting firm size eligibility restrictions. Guarantees increased four year performance, labour productivity, and employment growth, but not investment. Results are driven by firms with high training costs employees. They are consistent with the guarantees enabling a small number of financially constrained firms to retain workers that helped rebuild the businesses post crisis. The results suggest that COVID 19 responses based on guarantees alone can be regressive, because poorer workers are more likely to have low training costs jobs.
Juanita Gonzalez-Uribe Susheng Wang
221298903
Social distancing laws cause only small losses of economic activity during the COVID 19 pandemic in Scandinavia
Significance Social distancing laws that restrict the activities of private businesses are often seen as sacrificing the economy to save lives from COVID 19. Indeed, many countries have experienced massive reductions in consumer spending around the time they began to shut down. We show that these restrictions are, in fact, responsible for only a small portion of the drop in consumer spending. This suggests that the virus itself is responsible for the majority of the economic damage. We find that social distancing laws may provide an economic benefit: the laws reduce the economic activity of the low risk population and can thus protect those with the greatest risk of mortality from also bearing the greatest burden in terms of reduced spending. This paper uses real time transaction data from a large bank in Scandinavia to estimate the effect of social distancing laws on consumer spending in the coronavirus 2019 (COVID 19) pandemic. The analysis exploits a natural experiment to disentangle the effects of the virus and the laws aiming to contain it: Denmark and Sweden were similarly exposed to the pandemic but only Denmark imposed significant restrictions on social and economic activities. We estimate that aggregate spending dropped by around 25% (95% CI: 24 to 26% in Sweden and, as a result of the shutdown, by 4 additional percentage points (95% CI: 3 to 5 percentage points [p.p. in Denmark. This suggests that most of the economic contraction is caused by the virus itself and occurs regardless of social distancing laws. The age gradient in the estimates suggests that social distancing reinforces the virus induced drop in spending for low health risk individuals but attenuates it for high risk individuals by lowering the overall prevalence of the virus in the society.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Adam Sheridan Asger Lau Andersen Emil Toft Hansen Niels Johannesen