Short thread: plumbing matters, US edition:
1) with CARES Act, unemployment benefits should provide about $80-90bn per month in income support
2) preliminary data suggest that only $45bn was distributed in April
3) difference driven by delays in getting payments to recipients 1/n

1) According to https://www.nber.org/papers/w27216 , w/ CARES Act 68% of workers now have replacement rates above 100% (median=134%; workers in the bottom 20% of the income distribution >200%) 2/n

2) Treasury reports that $48bn was disbursed in April for Unemployment Insurance Benefits https://fsapps.fiscal.treasury.gov/dts/files/20043000.pdf According to @BrookingsEcon, potential UI benefits for April were around $80-90bn https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2020/05/13/incomes-have-crashed-how-much-has-unemployment-insurance-helped/ 3/n

3) Esther Duflo was right: plumbing matters! 3/n https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/aer.p20171153