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The COVID-19 Crisis and the Allocation of Capital

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 August 2021

Ran Duchin*
Affiliation:
Boston College Carroll School of Management
Jarrad Harford
Affiliation:
University of Washington Foster School of Businessjarrad@uw.edu
*
duchinr@bc.edu (corresponding author)

Abstract

We summarize and synthesize the results of the articles in this symposium issue on research in financial economics related to the COVID-19 pandemic. We argue that the articles, taken together, present evidence that the pandemic resulted in a distributional shock to capital allocation. The underlying mechanisms include accelerating technological shifts, government stimulus programs, and heterogeneous responses of investors and firms. We augment these articles with evidence on the heterogeneous effects of the pandemic on profitability, payout, investment, employment, and productivity across sectors.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Michael G. Foster School of Business, University of Washington

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