New research casts light on the pandemic’s effects on resource allocation

AS COVID-19 SPREAD around the world, many governments prescribed the economic equivalent of a medically induced coma. Halting the transmission of the disease meant shutting down economic activity. But to restore economies to health quickly, connections between workers and firms needed to be maintained, so that activity could pick up from where it had left off. It seems increasingly clear, though, that not everything will return to normal once covid-19 is eventually beaten. As economies adjust, there is likely to be a substantial reallocation of people and resources.