The heterogeneous effects of COVID-19 on labor market flows: evidence from administrative data.

We investigate the short-term effects of COVID-19 on labor market flows and how they are mediated by labor market policy. Using Italian administrative data on a sample of active contracts between 2009 and the second quarter of 2020, we show that, before the pandemic, a higher share of female compared to male, young compared to old and low educated compared to high educated workers is employed in non-essential activities. When we look at the change in hirings and separations, from the 9th week of 2020 - the time when first cases and deaths due to COVID-19 were recorded -, we find a pronounced drop in hirings and endings of fixed-term contracts. Layoffs and quits increase after the 9th week, and then decline significantly, reflecting the effects of government intervention. The lifting of the lockdown triggers a slow recovery of labor market flows. Young workers, those on temporary contracts, low-educated workers, those employed in the South and those with no opportunities of working from home experience a greater decline in separation probability, indicating that government policy partly protected them from the labor market impact of the recession. The decline in the separation probability for women is lower than that for men. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10888-021-09522-610.1007/s10888-021-09522-6.

The high mortality of patients with common variable immunodeficiency and small bowel villous atrophy.

OBJECTIVES: Common variable immunodeficiency (CVID) is a primary humoral immunodeficiency characterised by reduced serum levels of immunoglobulins, recurrent infections, autoimmune phenomena and lymphoproliferative disorders. Gastrointestinal symptoms are very common in these patients and a coeliac-like villous atrophy was described in some of them. Since mortality in CVID is much higher than in the general population, our aim was to evaluate mortality rates and clinical predictors of survival in patients with both CVID and duodenal villous atrophy. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Sex, date of diagnosis of villous atrophy, HLA genomic typing, date of death/last follow-up, type of complication were retrospectively collected from medical files. Univariate analysis for each predictor was conducted and Kaplan-Meier curves were generated to evaluate survival. RESULTS: Twenty-three patients were enrolled (9 females, mean age at diagnosis of villous atrophy 38 ± 13 years) and 8 of them died after a median time of 96 months (25th-75th 60-120 months) corresponding to a mortality rate of 3.9 per 100 person-years (95% CI 1.9-7.7). Mortality was higher in men compared to women (60 vs. 11/1000 person-years), although not statistically significant. Causes of death included onco-haematological disorders and infections. CONCLUSIONS: Although based on a small cohort, our results confirm that patients with CVID and villous atrophy are burdened by a very high mortality mainly due to onco-immunological disorders and infections. Strict follow-up is required in these patients.

Schools and the transmission of Sars-Cov-2: Evidence from Italy.

This paper studies the effect on the spread of Sars-Cov-2 in Italy of schools' re-openings and closures. Exploiting different re-opening dates across regions after the summer break of 2020, I show that early-opening regions experienced more cases in the 40 days following school re-openings compared with late-opening ones. However, there is great uncertainty around the estimates, and this suggests a wide dispersion in the effects of school re-openings on Sars-Cov-2 transmission. I also study the effect of school closures in Campania, one of the biggest regions in Southern Italy. Using a synthetic control approach, I show that school closures are associated with lower numbers of cases relative to the counterfactual group, particularly in younger age groups. In contrast, I find no significant effects on older age groups, which are more likely to require hospitalization. Finally, by exploiting survey data, I provide descriptive evidence on the increased incidence rate among teachers and students relative to the general population, following school re-openings.