Research against COVID-19
From May 2020 to April 2021 I was principal investigator of the project “Testing, incentives, information: How to mobilize society’s resources against the pandemic” at CERGE-EI and Charles University, under the TACR GAMA framework. Pavel Kocourek, Theodhor Kouro, Tomáš Lichard, Ludmila Matysková, Daniel Münich, Filip Pertold and Jakub Steiner were at various points been part of the project.
Members of the project have engaged in the Czech public debate throughout the crisis and have on occasion advised policymakers in the Czech Republic and abroad. In October 2020, Seznám Zpravy wrote about our recommendations:
“Jann’s document (from as early as June, it should be noted) was a concise and clear set of policy recommendations for the coming months. When one looks through them today, one cannot even accuse the government of not reading them. Instead, one suspects that they studied them carefully and then, for some reason, did the exact opposite.”
Here are some results from the project (🇨🇿 for texts in Czech, 🇬🇧 for texts in English; * marks project outputs that I have not myself been part of):
2021:
- September: Article on Economics Observatory about the economic logic of test and trace programs in the fight against Covid-19 🇬🇧
- April: Study on the economic costs of school closures and distance learning (with Daniel Münich and Lucie Zapletalová) 🇨🇿
- Press release 🇬🇧
- Press release 🇨🇿
- Interactive online calculator to reproduce study results and check robustness
- March: Our scientific paper on “Optimal Test Allocation” (with Jeff Ely, Andrea Galeotti and Jakub Steiner) was accepted at the Journal of Economic Theory
- February: Study on how the number of contacts has developed over time and in response to government measures* (by Tomáš Lichard and Filip Pertold) 🇨🇿
- January (and previous months): Statistical leaflet on unemployment during the COVID crisis* 🇨🇿
2020:
- October 19: Study on working from home in the Czech Republic* 🇨🇿
- October: Input to the Czech “Antiepidemic System” that recommends anti-COVID measures based on current epidemiological situation (internal documents)
- October: Online tool* to calculate the effective R number for the Czech Republic 🇬🇧 (programmed by Jan Netík)
- September 30: Statement “Effective Restrictions Against Covid Could Pay For Themselves” (published as official CERGE-EI statement)
- September 14: Article in Lidové Noviny, arguing that the time for cheap countermeasures has passed, but that more inaction will only increase the eventual economic cost (with Daniel Münich)
- Czech version 🇨🇿 (paywall)
- English version 🇬🇧
- August 14: Comments on the Czech government’s draft national testing strategy (published in the name of the CERGE-EI AntiCovid initiative)
- July 3: Article on aktualně.cz evaluating the Czech contact tracing effort by analyzing publicly available data 🇨🇿 (with Vasily Korovkin and Jakub Steiner)
- June 5: Policy recommendations “Prevention will save us money: Recommendations for the coming weeks and months” (published in the name of the IDEA AntiCovid initiative)
- Czech version 🇨🇿
- English version 🇬🇧
- Reporting in Seznam Zprávy
- May 26: Article on aktualně.cz arguing that it is the pandemic more than the lockdown that depresses economic activity — and that investments in infection control are hence also what is necessary for economic recovery 🇨🇿 (with Štěpán Jurajda)
- May 12: Article on aktualně.cz calling for a national testing strategy that prioritizes contact tracing 🇨🇿 (with Jakub Steiner)
- April 27: Article on aktualně.cz on the error rates of antibody testing 🇨🇿 (with Jakub Kastl and Jakub Steiner)
- April 16: IDEA AntiCovid-19 study: “Using Bluetooth technology for COVID-19 contact tracing” (with Pavel Kocourek and Jakub Steiner)
- April 16: Article on aktualně.cz on the theory of representative antibody testing 🇨🇿
- April 6: Interview in iForum magazine on smart quarantine 🇬🇧
- April 5: Interviewed in RESPEKT magazine about incentive issues of smart quarantine 🇨🇿
- April 2: IDEA AntiCovid-19 study: “Collecting personal data for smart tracing: How to encourage (and not discourage) participation”
- Czech version 🇨🇿 (translated by Ludmila Matysková)
- English version 🇬🇧
- March 26: IDEA AntiCovid-19 study: “International testing policies for COVID-19 – An overview and an economic-statistical perspective” (with Pavel Kocourek, Jan Kulveit, Ludmila Matysková, Vladimír Novák and Jakub Steiner)