IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/fistud/v41y2020i2p357-361.html

Could COVID‐19 Infect the Consumer Prices Index?

Author

Listed:
  • Richard Blundell
  • Rachel Griffith
  • Peter Levell
  • Martin O'Connell

Abstract

The spread of COVID‐19 has led to sweeping changes in the way households work, spend their time and shop, resulting in different shopping patterns and rapid price changes in some goods. How will changes such as these be reflected in headline inflation measures such as the Consumer Prices Index (CPI)? This paper discusses problems in interpreting the CPI as a measure of how the cost of living is changing during the lockdown.

Suggested Citation

  • Richard Blundell & Rachel Griffith & Peter Levell & Martin O'Connell, 2020. "Could COVID‐19 Infect the Consumer Prices Index?," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 41(2), pages 357-361, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:fistud:v:41:y:2020:i:2:p:357-361
    DOI: 10.1111/1475-5890.12229
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-5890.12229
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/1475-5890.12229?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rachel Griffith & Ephraim Leibtag & Andrew Leicester & Aviv Nevo, 2009. "Consumer Shopping Behavior: How Much Do Consumers Save?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 23(2), pages 99-120, Spring.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Tsai, I-Chun & Chen, Han-Bo & Lin, Che-Chun, 2024. "The ability of energy commodities to hedge the dynamic risk of epidemic black swans," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    2. Jean Hindriks & Leonardo Madio & Valerio Serse, 2021. "Promotion Ban and Heterogeneity in Retail Prices during the Great Lockdown," CESifo Working Paper Series 9074, CESifo.
    3. Diosey Ramon Lugo-Morin, 2020. "Global Food Security in a Pandemic: The Case of the New Coronavirus (COVID-19)," World, MDPI, vol. 1(2), pages 1-20, September.
    4. So Kubota, 2021. "The macroeconomics of COVID-19 exit strategy: the case of Japan," The Japanese Economic Review, Springer, vol. 72(4), pages 651-682, October.
    5. Tarkom, Augustine & Ujah, Nacasius U., 2023. "Inflation, interest rate, and firm efficiency: The impact of policy uncertainty," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    6. Grigoli, Francesco & Pugacheva, Evgenia, 2024. "COVID-19 inflation weights in the UK and Germany," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Xavier Jaravel & Martin O'Connell, 2020. "High‐Frequency Changes in Shopping Behaviours, Promotions and the Measurement of Inflation: Evidence from the Great Lockdown," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 41(3), pages 733-755, September.
    2. Chloe Lee & Wen Long & María J. Luengo‐Prado & Bent E. Sørensen, 2021. "Selective bargain hunting: A concise test of rational consumer search," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 59(3), pages 1089-1105, July.
    3. Martin Browning & Thomas F. Crossley & Joachim Winter, 2014. "The Measurement of Household Consumption Expenditures," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 6(1), pages 475-501, August.
    4. Seaton, Jonathan S. & Waterson, Michael, 2013. "Identifying and characterising price leadership in British supermarkets," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 31(5), pages 392-403.
    5. Kozo Ueda & Kota Watanabe & Tsutomu Watanabe, 2020. "Consumer Inventory and the Cost of Living Index: Theory and Some Evidence from Japan," CARF F-Series CARF-F-491, Center for Advanced Research in Finance, Faculty of Economics, The University of Tokyo.
    6. J. Michael Collins & Amrita Kulka, 2023. "Saving by buying ahead: stockpiling in response to lump‐sum payments," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 44(4), pages 451-484, December.
    7. Anania, Giovanni & Nisticò, Rosanna, 2014. "Price dispersion and seller heterogeneity in retail food markets," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 190-201.
    8. Bhardwaj,Abhishek & Ghose,Devaki & Mukherjee,Saptarshi & Singh,Manpreet, 2022. "Million Dollar Plants and Retail Prices," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9995, The World Bank.
    9. repec:cpr:ceprdp:14514 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Anania, Giovanni & Nistico, Rosanna, 2012. "Price dispersion, search costs and consumers and sellers heterogeneity in retail food markets," 2012 Conference, August 18-24, 2012, Foz do Iguacu, Brazil 125594, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    11. José M. Casado & José Ignacio Giménez-Nadal & José M. Labeaga & José Alberto Molina, 2025. "Family Size and Food Consumption: Exploring Economies of Scale with Panel Data," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 46(2), pages 373-382, June.
    12. Thomas F. Crossley & Yuqian Lu, 2018. "Returns to scale in food preparation and the Deaton–Paxson puzzle," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 16(1), pages 5-19, March.
    13. Ronald C. Fisher, 2019. "Illustrative Assignments to Incorporate Research and Writing in Introductory Economics Classes," Journal of Economics Teaching, Journal of Economics Teaching, vol. 4(1), pages 1-14, May.
    14. Ji Yan & Kun Tian & Huw D. Dixon & Saeed Heravi & Peter Morgan, 2014. "Shop Around and You Pay More," CESifo Working Paper Series 4940, CESifo.
    15. Iwona M. Batyk & Jan Žukovskis & Lina Pilelienė, 2023. "Determinants of Cross-Border Food Purchases on the European Union Market: Research Results from the Lithuanian–Polish Border," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-21, June.
    16. Dixon, Huw & Seaton, Johathan S. & Waterson, Michael, "undated". "Price Flexibility In British Supermarkets: Moderation And Recession," Economic Research Papers 270246, University of Warwick - Department of Economics.
    17. Aviv Nevo & Arlene Wong, 2019. "The Elasticity Of Substitution Between Time And Market Goods: Evidence From The Great Recession," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 60(1), pages 25-51, February.
    18. Aursland, Thor Andreas & Steen, Frode, 2021. "Unemployment shocks, cyclical prices and shopping behavior," Discussion Paper Series in Economics 3/2021, Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Economics.
    19. Brian Dillon & Joachim De Weerdt & Ted O’Donoghue, 2021. "Paying More for Less: Why Don’t Households in Tanzania Take Advantage of Bulk Discounts?," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 35(1), pages 148-179.
    20. Ampudia, Miguel & Ehrmann, Michael & Strasser, Georg, 2024. "Shopping behavior and the effect of monetary policy on inflation heterogeneity along the income distribution," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    21. Naohito Abe & Kyosuke Shiotani, 2014. "Who Faces Higher Prices? An Empirical Analysis Based on Japanese Homescan Data," Asian Economic Policy Review, Japan Center for Economic Research, vol. 9(1), pages 94-115, January.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:fistud:v:41:y:2020:i:2:p:357-361. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1111/(ISSN)1475-5890 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.