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Monitoring Real Activity in Real Time: The Weekly Economic Index

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Abstract

Economists are well-practiced at assessing real activity based on familiar aggregate time series, like the unemployment rate, industrial production, or GDP growth. However, these series represent monthly or quarterly averages of economic conditions, and are only available at a considerable lag, after the month or quarter ends. When the economy hits sudden headwinds, like the COVID-19 pandemic, conditions can evolve rapidly. How can we monitor the high-frequency evolution of the economy in “real time”?

Suggested Citation

  • Daniel J. Lewis & Karel Mertens & James H. Stock, 2020. "Monitoring Real Activity in Real Time: The Weekly Economic Index," Liberty Street Economics 20200330b, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fednls:87695
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Marc Burri & Daniel Kaufmann, 2020. "A daily fever curve for the Swiss economy," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics, Springer;Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics, vol. 156(1), pages 1-11, December.
    2. Daniel J. Lewis & Karel Mertens & James H. Stock & Mihir Trivedi, 2022. "Measuring real activity using a weekly economic index," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 37(4), pages 667-687, June.
    3. Daniel J. Lewis & Karel Mertens & James H. Stock & Mihir Trivedi, 2021. "High-Frequency Data and a Weekly Economic Index during the Pandemic," AEA Papers and Proceedings, American Economic Association, vol. 111, pages 326-330, May.
    4. Le, Thai-Ha & Boubaker, Sabri & Bui, Manh Tien & Park, Donghyun, 2023. "On the volatility of WTI crude oil prices: A time-varying approach with stochastic volatility," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).
    5. Fornaro, Paolo, 2020. "Nowcasting Industrial Production Using Uncoventional Data Sources," ETLA Working Papers 80, The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy.
    6. Patricia C. Mosser, 2020. "Central bank responses to COVID-19," Business Economics, Palgrave Macmillan;National Association for Business Economics, vol. 55(4), pages 191-201, October.
    7. Nicolas Woloszko, 2020. "Tracking activity in real time with Google Trends," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 1634, OECD Publishing.
    8. Mariia Artemova & Francisco Blasques & Siem Jan Koopman & Zhaokun Zhang, 2021. "Forecasting in a changing world: from the great recession to the COVID-19 pandemic," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 21-006/III, Tinbergen Institute.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    high frequency; real activity; nowcasting; COVID-19;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E2 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment
    • C53 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling - - - Forecasting and Prediction Models; Simulation Methods
    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior

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