Congress included the first round of stimulus payments in the sweeping $2 trillion economic response to the pandemic passed in March.
Combined with a boosted unemployment insurance benefit, the federal economic response more than offset the decline in earnings and, in fact, led to a decline in poverty, according to a report from researchers at the University of Chicago and University of Notre Dame.
The problem with the stimulus checks was that the aid was “mismatched” with the need, said John Friedman, a professor at Brown University who is tracking the economic impacts of the coronavirus with a Harvard-based team of researchers called Opportunity Insights.
That’s why, Friedman argues, that new stimulus money should be targeted to both low-income households and to people who saw a major loss of income.
Extending unemployment benefits could be another thing Congress considers in July, along with additional support for small businesses and funding for states and cities.
