The impact of Covid-19 on productivity

Nicholas Bloom, Philip Bunn, Paul Mizen, Pawel Smietanka and Gregory Douglas Thwaites

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: We analyse the impact of Covid-19 on productivity using data from an innovative monthly firm survey panel that asks for quantitative impacts of Covid on inputs and outputs. We find total factor productivity (TFP) fell by up to 5% during 2020-21. The overall impact combined large reductions in 'within-firm' productivity, with an offsetting positive 'between-firm' effects as less productive sectors, and less productive firms within them, contracted. Despite these large pandemic effects, firms' post-Covid forecasts imply surprisingly little lasting impact on aggregate TFP. We also see significant heterogeneity over firms and sectors, with the greatest impacts in those requiring extensive in-person activity. We also ask about unmeasured inflation in the form of deteriorating product quality, finding an additional 1.4% negative impact on TFP.

Keywords: Covid-19; productivity; coronavirus (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D24 D84 E24 E32 O47 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 38 pages
Date: 2023-06-26
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-bec, nep-eff and nep-mac
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/121314/ Open access version. (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: The Impact of Covid-19 on Productivity (2025)
Working Paper: The impact of Covid-19 on productivity (2023)
Working Paper: The impact of Covid-19 on productivity (2022)
Working Paper: The impact of COVID-19 on productivity (2022)
Working Paper: The Impact of Covid-19 on Productivity (2020)
Working Paper: The impact of Covid-19 on productivity (2020)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ehl:lserod:121314

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library LSE Library Portugal Street London, WC2A 2HD, U.K.. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by LSERO Manager ().