We study the influence of state lockdowns during the coronavirus (COVID) pandemic on states’ cost of borrowing. First, we examine the extent to which states’ own COVID exposures are priced, controlling for US-level COVID developments. We find that a doubling of new COVID cases in a state is...

Social distancing, a non-pharmaceutical tactic aimed at reducing the spread of COVID-19, can arise because individuals voluntarily distance from others to avoid contracting the disease. Alternatively, it can arise because of jurisdictional restrictions imposed by local authorities. We run...