Home » Posts tagged 'Covid-19'
Tag Archives: Covid-19
Price Determinants and Depreciation of Used Cars Post-COVID-19
by Ayaan Sundeep Patel
Abstract
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the price of used cars has fluctuated greatly due to
numerous factors. Inflation and supply chain issues have been at the forefront of the news and
have affected not only cars but most consumer goods. While the majority of society has
seemingly progressed past COVID-19, its effects still linger in the used car market, as prices rose
4.6% from January 2023 to February 2023. Therefore, in an effort to study this phenomenon, I
scraped data from autotrader.co.uk on February 23, 2023. This study aims to understand the
effect of various factors, including mileage, age, and engine size, on various classes of used cars.
The five classes being studied are compact cars, luxury sports sedans, luxury mid-size sedans,
luxury full-size sedans, and luxury SUVs. A log-linear model is used to model the price
determinants of the used cars. A linear model is incorporated to model the depreciation rate of
the cars in the dataset. Lastly, this model is used to predict the three-year depreciation rate for
each car model, which is then compared to the pre-COVID-19 three-year depreciation rate to see
the inflated prices in the UK used car market.
Michelle Connolly, Ph.D., Faculty Advisor
Andrea Lanteri, Ph.D., Faculty Advisor
Withdrawal: The Difficulty of Transitioning to a Cashless Economy
By Praneeth Kandula
Abstract
In 2021, modern payment methods such as mobile pay have increased nearly fivefold since their introduction in 2015. This shift to an increasingly cashless, digital economy has been marked by inequitable financial and technological divides. Historically, Black and Latino adults have had less access to financial systems and are less likely to own traditional computers and home broadband. Without rectifying these issues, a cashless, digital economy only serves to widen divides. Using data from the Diary of Consumer Payment, this study descriptively examines the use of cash and alternative payment methods by different racial and ethnic groups from 2015 through 2020. I also extend this effort to address the effects of COVID-19. I find that racial differences not only exist but also the gap between Black and Latino adults and White adults grows between 2015 and 2019. Still, this paper finds that in 2020 the likelihood to employ cash for a transaction falls for Black adults but not for Latino adults. COVID-19 has been a critical driver of change, forcing both consumers and corporations to shift to a more digital-centric economy. While there have been positive shifts for Black adults, policy ensuring that all racial groups have access to the necessary financial and digital networks will be critical in establishing an equitable economy moving forward.
Professor Lisa A. Gennetian, Faculty Advisor
Professor Michelle P. Connolly, Faculty Advisor
JEL Classification: D1 D31 G20 I24 J11
Does Responsiveness to Mortality Risk Vary by Age? Evidence from Pandemic Health Outcomes and Movement Patterns
By Ryan Jones Hastings
Abstract
When choosing whether to visit venues like stores and restaurants during the
COVID-19 pandemic, individuals faced trade-offs between movement and mortality
risk. This paper analyzes age-specific responsiveness to infection-related mortality
risk in the Philadelphia metropolitan area from March through December 2020.
First, we develop a theoretical model that characterizes potential sources of
heterogeneity in the decisions of individuals choosing how much to move. Next,
we use data on the health outcomes of COVID-19 patients to estimate fatality
rates for different demographic groups. Finally, we use a panel of cell phone data
tracking visits to venues before and during the pandemic along with a revealed
preference approach to estimate an empirical model that relates age to movement
decisions. Our results suggest that older people’s movements are less sensitive
to mortality risk. Under weak assumptions, this implies that older people have
a lower willingness to pay for marginal reductions in the probability of death.
This finding has implications for the cost-benefit analysis of policies that mitigate
adverse health outcomes, such as pandemic movement restrictions and pollution
remediation, and for the value of statistical life (VSL) literature more broadly.
Professor Christopher Timmins, Faculty Advisor
Professor Michelle Connolly, Faculty Advisor
JEL classification: D81; I12; J17; R2.
Is Affordable Housing Moving Mobile? Analyzing the Impact of COVID-19 on Demand for Manufactured Housing
By Jair Coleridge Soman Alleyne
As demand for affordable housing continues to increase in America, manufactured homes provide a private solution to this problem. Research has shown that manufactured home prices are largely dependent on the price of local housing substitutes as well as other geographic hedonic factors. This paper looks at the impact of Covid-19 on the manufactured housing market to determine the effects that economic shocks have on the demand for manufactured housing. Conditional on wanting to buy a house, we use a logistic model to examine the probability that an individual purchases a manufactured home and whether this probability increases at times of high unemployment and economic uncertainty. Due to the nature of our data, although the impact of Covid as a disease is difficult to measure, we do find decreased income and increased unemployment to be a factor increasing the likelihood of purchasing a manufactured home. We also find that in 2020, demand for manufactured housing increased significantly compared to the years prior.
Advisors: Professor Charles Becker, Professor Michelle Connolly | JEL Codes: R2, R21, I32
