The COVID-19 pandemic has inflicted an economic hardship unprecedented for the modern age. In this paper, we show that the health crisis and ensuing lockdown, came with an unseen shift in households’ economic sentiment. First, using a European dataset of country-level and regional internet searches, we document a substantial increase in people's business cycle related searches in the months following the coronavirus outbreak. People's unemployment concerns jumped to levels well-above those during the Great Recession. Second, we observe a significant, coinciding slowdown in labour markets and consumption. Third, our analysis shows that the ensuing shift in sentiment was significantly more outspoken in those EU countries hit hardest in economic terms. Finally, we show that unprecedented fiscal policy actions, such as the short-time work schemes implemented or reformed at the onset of the COVID-crisis, however, have not eased economic sentiment.

COVID-19 大流行造成了现代前所未有的经济困难。在本文中，我们表明健康危机和随之而来的封锁伴随着家庭经济情绪的无形转变。首先，使用欧洲国家级和区域互联网搜索数据集，我们记录了冠状病毒爆发后几个月内人们与商业周期相关的搜索大幅增加。人们对失业的担忧跃升至远高于大衰退期间的水平。其次，我们观察到劳动力市场和消费同步显着放缓。第三，我们的分析表明，在经济方面受到最严重打击的欧盟国家中，随之而来的情绪转变明显更加直言不讳。最后，我们表明前所未有的财政政策行动，