  We estimate the effect of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic on racial
animus, as measured by Google searches and Twitter posts including a commonly
used anti-Asian racial slur. Our empirical strategy exploits the plausibly
exogenous variation in the timing of the first Covid-19 diagnosis across
regions in the United States. We find that the first local diagnosis leads to
an immediate increase in racist Google searches and Twitter posts, with the
latter mainly coming from existing Twitter users posting the slur for the first
time. This increase could indicate a rise in future hate crimes, as we document
a strong correlation between the use of the slur and anti-Asian hate crimes
using historic data. Moreover, we find that the rise in the animosity is
directed at Asians rather than other minority groups and is stronger on days
when the connection between the disease and Asians is more salient, as proxied
by President Trump's tweets mentioning China and Covid-19 at the same time. In
contrast, the negative economic impact of the pandemic plays little role in the
initial increase in racial animus. Our results suggest that de-emphasizing the
connection between the disease and a particular racial group can be effective
in curbing current and future racial animus.
