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At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the entire world was waiting for a medical solution (for example, vaccines) in order to return to normality. Sanitary restrictions changed our consumption behaviors and feelings. Therefore, this paper analyzes the stochastic properties of consumer sentiment during the COVID-19 episode and the appearance of vaccines against the virus in December 2020 in the United States of America. This study adds a new dimension to the literature because it is the first research paper that uses advanced methodologies based on fractional integration and fractional cointegration analysis to understand the statistical properties of these time series and their behavior in the long term. The results using fractional integration methodologies exhibit a high degree of persistence, finding behavior of mean reversion during the pandemic episode. Therefore, the shock duration in consumer sentiment will be transitory, recovering to its previous trend in the short run. Focusing on the cointegrating part, we arrive at two main conclusions. First, an increase in total vaccination produces a positive reaction or impact on the behavior of consumers. On the other hand, an increase in new COVID-19 cases negatively affects the behavior of the consumer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to study the role of broadband in mitigating the economic losses resulting from COVID-19 in the United States by providing a necessary infrastructure to keep economic systems operating, albeit partially. The study is based on an empirical framework underlined by a Cobb–Douglas production function and estimated within a structural multi-equation model through the three-stage least squares approach. To consider the impact of COVID-19 on the economy, we rely on two main variables: an indicator of the quantity of deaths attributed to the disease for every 100,000 inhabitants; and the Stringency Index, a metric linked to the intensity of social restrictions imposed by national and local governments. The main contribution of this article is to provide robust evidence for how the heterogeneous effects of the pandemic across states are in part explained by differences in broadband adoption. Our results indicate that those states with higher broadband adoption were able to mitigate a larger portion of their economic losses derived from the pandemic-induced lockdowns. Addressing the digital divide and ensuring universal access to broadband represent critical goals for building economic resilience to face future emergencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]