  We provide one of the first systematic assessments of the development and
determinants of economic anxiety at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.
Using a global dataset on internet searches and two representative surveys from
the US, we document a substantial increase in economic anxiety during and after
the arrival of the coronavirus. We also document a large dispersion in beliefs
about the pandemic risk factors of the coronavirus, and demonstrate that these
beliefs causally affect individuals' economic anxieties. Finally, we show that
individuals' mental models of infectious disease spread understate non-linear
growth and shape the extent of economic anxiety.
