**3. The conceptual framework**

The pandemic touched on many economic theories, from the Keynesian to human capital theory to access to finance, among others. Keynesianism posits that fluctuations in components of the aggregate demand such as household consumption, government spending, firm investment, or net exports, have a bearing on growth, while theories on access to finance point to constraints induced by long distance, affordability, prohibitive borrowing cost, illiteracy, lack of credit histories and firm viability. Human capital is conceived to rely on critical investments, while productivity and efficiency gains can be augmented through greater training and educational improvements.

The pandemic touched on several theoretical frameworks and the application of technology underlies them. To minimize disruption to education, kids moved to online courses; to enhance access to finance, firms exploited digital platforms to extend services; and to stimulate aggregate demand, taxation, and spending moved online. Therefore, technology played a moderating role during the pandemic and underpinned major theoretical arguments and different channels (see **Table 2**).

The paper uses a specific platform (**Table 2**) to assess the use of technology to provide services.
