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Social, Economic, and Policy Implications

Beyond COVID-19

June 17, 2020

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Scientist, scholars, and physicians . . .

  • Engaged in research

  • Engaged in policy

  • Engaged in innovation

  • Engaged in the clinic

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Welcome

  • Tamar Gendler, Dean, Faculty of Arts and Sciences
  • Alan Gerber, Dean of the Social Science Division, Faculty of Arts and Sciences

Presentations

  • Zack Cooper, Yale School of Public Health
  • Gregory Huber, Department of Political Science, Faculty of Arts and Sciences
  • Chima Ndumele, Yale School of Public Health
  • Rohini Pande, Department of Economics, Faculty of Arts and Sciences

Discussion & Questions

Agenda

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Alan Gerber

Dean of the Social Science Division, Faculty of Arts and Sciences

Charles C. & Dorathea S. Dilley Professor of Political Science

Professor of Economics, of Statistics and Data Science, of Health Policy and Management (Public Health)

Director of the Center for the Study of American Politics

Director of the Institution for Social and Policy Studies

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Yale Social Science and COVID-19

  • Yale Social Science: FAS departments (175 faculty in 7 departments) + SOM, Public Health, Law, Environment, more

  • Areas of Study: Economics, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology, Anthropology, Linguistics, Statistics and Data Science

  • Methods: Mathematical Modeling, Ethnographic and other Qualitative Methods, Survey Research, Analysis of Observational Data, including “Massive” and Sensitive Data, Experimental research in lab and field

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Yale Social Science and COVID-19

Social Scientists working to apply this expertise to:

Understand the spread of infectious disease: Use network models to predict the effects of travel on the spread of the pandemic (Christakis), public health modeling (Zilibotti, Yale public health faculty)

Fight the disease: Psychology for effective messaging for social distancing (Crockett, Huber, Saad Omar in Yale Medical School/School of Public Health), adapting public health response to context (Mobarak, among others)

Covid-19 website: https://covid.yale.edu/research/researchers/social/

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Yale Social Science and COVID-19

Social Scientists working to apply this expertise to:

Measure the social consequences (economic, political, psychological): Developing rapid CPS to provide faster labor market data and improve economic policy (Nordhaus), impact of pandemic and programs on small business in US and Latin America (Humphries)

Reduce the societal and individual harm: massive outreach sharing evidence-based measures to support individual well-being (Santos), Tobin Center efforts to connect volunteers and researchers with government, “safe elections” work

Covid-19 website: https://covid.yale.edu/research/researchers/social/

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Zack Cooper

Associate Professor of Public Health and of Economics

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Gregory Huber

Forst Family Professor of Political Science

Chair, Department of Political Science; Faculty of Arts and Sciences

Associate Director, Center for the Study of American Politics

Director, ISPS Behavioral Research Lab

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Persuasion in a Polarized Political Environment

  • Setting: Heightened elite and mass polarization
  • Questions: What implications does that have for persuasion?
  • Two areas of application, common values:
    • Encouraging Safe Elections
      • Vote by mail; Safe in person voting at the polls
    • Responsible Re-opening Behavior during COVID-19
      • Social distancing; Dynamic risk mitigation
  • Research Process:
    • Understand beliefs, Develop and test messages, Field rollout
    • Attention to potentially heterogeneous effects

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Chima Ndumele

Associate Professor of Public Health, Yale School of Public Health

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Rohini Pande

Henry J. Heinz II Professor of Economics, Faculty of Arts and Sciences;

Director, Economic Growth Center

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C19 and the world’s poor

  • How should governments respond? Food or cash or both?

  • Will gender inequities in the labor market deepen? Can policy prevent this?

  • How can we design effective policies when institutions are weak?

  • How can we make governments responsive to evidence?

Global poverty will rise for the first time in the 21st century – large projected increases in India (Sumner et al 2020)

A quarter billion will be hungry in 2020 (WFP)

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What we are doing

Evidence generation

Outputs

Gather data

Leverage large scale field studies for policy insights

Analyze data

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Migrant surveys identify policy needs

Lacking work, 7 million migrant workers have returned home since lockdown began

State capacity differences affect policy reach

2 North Indian poorer states ~ 45 million people below the poverty line

And influence well-being

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Mor Awaaz: A phone service to increase digital engagement

10,735

women enrolled

in “Mor Awaaz”

“Push calls” share info on health + gov. benefits

“Pull calls” survey women on policy topics

1/3 of women lack information on how C19 spreads:

Formal providers increase knowledge, family doesn’t

Pull calls: Women access food more easily than cash

adapting

to C19:

survey women on knowledge & access to benefits

Feedback to govt:

TV for mass communication +local health-workers to fill gaps

Ensure food and don’t rely on just cash

Television/newspapers: wide reach (over 80%) and effectively conveys information

Local health workers reach fewer but are effective

Informal networks (family, friends, Whatsapp groups) don’t improve knowledge

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Discussion

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Please direct questions, opportunities, and information to:

Kathy Lynch

University Director,

Corporate Strategy & Engagement

kathleen.lynch@yale.edu

CONNECT & ENGAGE

covid.yale.edu

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Thank you for participating!

covid.yale.edu