While COVID-19 shutdowns are necessary for public health reasons, they have been detrimental to businesses, especially those that depend on drawing crowds, like restaurants. However, the actual impact of these closures on restaurants is difficult to discern only through observation. The report designs a randomized controlled trial to test the effects of COVID-19 shutdowns on restaurants; outlines surveys to collect data for the experiment; simulates data to answer the survey questions, using parameters drawn from research; and examines that data. Overall findings are that both revenue and employement counts were affected, dine-in restaurants were more affected, and minority-owned restaurants were also more affected.
'Inputs' include other papers, raw data, etc. 'Outputs' include the paper and files used to create it. 'Scripts' include those for importing and cleaning data.