## IT Shields: Technology Adoption and Economic Resilience during the COVID-19 Pandemic

_IMF Working Papers, September 25, 2020_

## Source details

**Canonical URL:** [IT Shields: Technology Adoption and Economic Resilience during the COVID-19 Pandemic](https://www.imf.org/en/publications/wp/issues/2020/09/25/it-shields-technology-adoption-and-economic-resilience-during-the-covid-19-pandemic-49754)

## Other formats

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## Bibliographic details
- Authors: Nicola Pierri, Yannick Timmer
- Published: September 25, 2020
- Series: IMF Working Papers
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9781513557755.001

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### Study scope and data
- Authors: Nicola Pierri, Yannick Timmer
- Date: September 25, 2020
- Data: IT adoption covering almost three million establishments in the US
- Publication: IMF Working Papers, Working Paper No. 2020/208, Pages: 41, Issue: 208, Volume: 2020, DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9781513557755.001, ISBN: 9781513557755, ISSN: 1018-5941

### Key findings on economic effects of IT adoption
- Technology adoption can partly shield the economy from the impact of the pandemic.
- In areas where firms adopted more IT, the unemployment rate rose less in response to social distancing.
- Counterfactual implication: if the pandemic had hit the world 5 years ago, the resulting unemployment rate would have been 2 percentage points higher during April and May 2020 (16% vs. 14%), due to the lower availability of IT.
- Local IT adoption mitigates the labor market consequences of the pandemic for all individuals, regardless of gender and race, except those with the lowest level of educational attainment.

### Subject areas and keywords highlighted
- Subject: COVID-19, Education, Health, Labor, Technology, Unemployment, Unemployment rate
- Keywords: adoption dummy, adoption measure, adoption pattern, adoption state, COVID-19, Europe, Global, Inequality, IT adopter, IT adoption, IT budget, Skill-Biased Technical Change, Technology, Unemployment, Unemployment rate, WP

*IMF Working Paper: "IT Shields: Technology Adoption and Economic Resilience during the COVID-19 Pandemic", Nicola Pierri and Yannick Timmer, September 25, 2020.*

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- **Working Paper**
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_Source: https://www.imf.org/en/publications/wp/issues/2020/09/25/it-shields-technology-adoption-and-economic-resilience-during-the-covid-19-pandemic-49754_