The Effects of Covid-19 on U.S. Small Businesses: Evidence from Owners, Managers, and Employees

Georgij Alekseev, Safaa Amer, Manasa Gopal, Theresa Kuchler, Schneider Jw, Johannes Stroebel and Nils Wernerfelt

No 8578, CESifo Working Paper Series from CESifo

Abstract: We analyze a large-scale survey of owners, managers, and employees of small businesses in the United States to understand the effects of the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic on those businesses. The survey was fielded in late April 2020 among Facebook business page administrators, frequent sellers on Facebook’s e-commerce platform Marketplace, and the general Facebook user population. We observe more than 66,000 responses covering most sectors of the economy, including many businesses that had stopped operating due to the pandemic. The survey asks 136 questions covering topics such as changes in business operations and employment, changes in financing patterns, and the interaction of household and business responsibilities. We characterize the adjustments implemented to survive the pandemic and explore the key challenges to continue operating or to re-open. We show how these patterns differ across industry, firm size, owner gender, and other firm characteristics.

Keywords: small businesses; COVID-19; working from home; small business finance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E30 L26 M13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-bec, nep-cfn, nep-ent, nep-mac, nep-sbm and nep-tid
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (18)

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Related works:
Journal Article: The Effects of COVID-19 on U.S. Small Businesses: Evidence from Owners, Managers, and Employees (2023)
Working Paper: The Effects of COVID-19 on U.S. Small Businesses: Evidence from Owners, Managers, and Employees (2020)
Working Paper: The Effects of COVID-19 on U.S. Small Businesses: Evidence from Owners, Managers, and Employees (2020)
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