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Shopping time

Author

Listed:
  • Petrosky-Nadeau, Nicolas
  • Wasmer, Etienne
  • Zeng, Shutian

Abstract

There is a renewed interest in macroeconomic theories of search frictions in the goods market that help solve quantitative puzzles on amplification and persistence of GDP, sales, inventory and advertisement. This requires a deeper understanding of the cyclical properties of the intensive margins of search in this market. Using the American Time Use Survey we construct an indicator of shopping time. It includes both searching and purchasing goods and is based on 25 time use categories (out of more than 400 categories). We find that average time spent shopping declined in the aggregate over the period 2008–2010 compared to 2005–2007. The decline was largest for the unemployed who went from spending more time shopping for goods than the employed to roughly the same, or even less, time. Cross-state and individual regressions indicate pro-cyclical consumer shopping time in the goods market. This evidence poses a challenge for models in which price comparisons are a driver of business cycles.

Suggested Citation

  • Petrosky-Nadeau, Nicolas & Wasmer, Etienne & Zeng, Shutian, 2016. "Shopping time," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 52-60.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:143:y:2016:i:c:p:52-60
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2016.02.003
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    Cited by:

    1. Petrosky-Nadeau, Nicolas & Wasmer, Etienne, 2015. "Macroeconomic dynamics in a model of goods, labor, and credit market frictions," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 97-113.
    2. Paweł Borys & Paweł Doligalski & Paweł Kopiec, 2018. "Labor market institutions in a shopping economy," NBP Working Papers 275, Narodowy Bank Polski.
    3. Pau Roldan & Sophia Gilbukh, 2017. "Firm Dynamics and Pricing under Customer Capital Accumulation," 2017 Meeting Papers 1235, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    4. Brzustowski, Thomas & Petrosky-Nadeau, Nicolas & Wasmer, Etienne, 2018. "Disentangling goods, labor, and credit market frictions in three European economies," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 180-196.

    More about this item

    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply

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