Michael R. Strain, Columnist

Covid Boosted Productivity. Post-Covid Will Boost It More.

The pandemic taught valuable lessons about the benefits and shortcomings of remote work. Businesses will apply them.

May 21, 2021 at 10:30 AM UTC

Michael R. Strain is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He is director of economic policy studies and Arthur F. Burns Scholar in Political Economy at the American Enterprise Institute. He is the author of “The American Dream Is Not Dead: (But Populism Could Kill It).”

After the great unmasking.
Photographer: Dylan Hollingsworth/Bloomberg

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The Covid-19 pandemic seems to be ending almost as abruptly as it began. Across the U.S., states are dropping restrictions on business activity and people are resuming normal lives.

Throughout the pandemic, there’s been evidence that remote work has increased the productivity of some workers and businesses. So it’s natural to wonder whether a mass return to the office will lead to productivity declines.