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Consumers' Mobility, Expenditure and Online- Offline Substitution Response to COVID-19: Evidence from French Transaction Data

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Listed:
  • David Bounie

    (SES - Département Sciences Economiques et Sociales - Télécom ParisTech)

  • Youssouf Camara
  • John Galbraith

Abstract

This paper investigates a number of general phenomena connected with consumer behaviour in response to a severe economic shock, using billions of French card transactions measured before and during the COVID-19 epidemic. We examine changes in consumer mobility, anticipatory behaviour in response to announced restrictions, and the contrasts between the responses of online and traditional point-of-sale (off-line) consumption expenditures to the shock. We track hourly, daily and weekly responses as well as estimating an aggregate fixed-period impact effect via a difference-indifference estimator. The results, particularly at the sectoral level, suggest that recourse to the online shopping option diminished somewhat the overall impact of the shock on consumption expenditure, thereby increasing resiliency of the economy.

Suggested Citation

  • David Bounie & Youssouf Camara & John Galbraith, 2020. "Consumers' Mobility, Expenditure and Online- Offline Substitution Response to COVID-19: Evidence from French Transaction Data," Working Papers hal-02566443, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-02566443
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://telecom-paris.hal.science/hal-02566443
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    COVID-19; consumption expenditure; consumer mobility; online com- merce; resiliency; transaction data;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth
    • E62 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Fiscal Policy; Modern Monetary Theory
    • E61 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Policy Objectives; Policy Designs and Consistency; Policy Coordination

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