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Tracking Inflation on a Daily Basis

Author

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  • Alvarez, Santiago E.
  • Lein, Sarah M.

    (University of Basel)

Abstract

Using online data for prices and real-time debit card transaction data on changes in expenditures for Switzerland allows us to track inflation on a daily basis. While the daily price index fluctuates around the official price index in normal times, it drops immediately after the lockdown related to the COVID19 pandemic. Official statistics reflect this drop only with a lag, specifically because data collection takes time and is impeded by lockdown conditions. Such daily real-time information can be useful to gauge the relative importance of demand and supply shocks and thus inform policymakers who need to determine appropriate policy measures.

Suggested Citation

  • Alvarez, Santiago E. & Lein, Sarah M., 2020. "Tracking Inflation on a Daily Basis," Working papers 2020/16, Faculty of Business and Economics - University of Basel.
    • Handle: RePEc:bsl:wpaper:2020/16
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    Cited by:

    1. Huw Dixon & Aftab Chowdhury, 2023. "Energy Expenditures and CPI Inflation in 2022: Inflation Was Even Higher Than We Thought," National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) Discussion Papers 550, National Institute of Economic and Social Research.
    2. Pascal Seiler & Barbara Rudolf, 2022. "Price Setting Before and During the Pandemic: Evidence from Swiss Consumer Prices," KOF Working papers 22-506, KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich.
    3. Martin Brown & Matthias R. Fengler & Jonas Huwyler & Winfried Koeniger & Rafael Lalive & Robert Rohrkemper, 2023. "Monitoring consumption Switzerland: data, background, and use cases," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics, Springer;Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics, vol. 159(1), pages 1-16, December.
    4. Pascal Seiler, 2020. "Weighting bias and inflation in the time of COVID-19: evidence from Swiss transaction data," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics, Springer;Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics, vol. 156(1), pages 1-11, December.
    5. Chowdhury, Aftab & Dixon, Huw David, 2023. "Measuring inflation during the Pandemic with the benefit of hindsight," Cardiff Economics Working Papers E2023/17, Cardiff University, Cardiff Business School, Economics Section.
    6. Beck, Günter W. & Carstensen, Kai & Menz, Jan-Oliver & Schnorrenberger, Richard & Wieland, Elisabeth, 2023. "Nowcasting consumer price inflation using high-frequency scanner data: Evidence from Germany," Discussion Papers 34/2023, Deutsche Bundesbank.
    7. Henkel, Lukas & Wieland, Elisabeth & Błażejowska, Aneta & Conflitti, Cristina & Fabo, Brian & Fadejeva, Ludmila & Jonckheere, Jana & Karadi, Peter & Macias, Paweł & Menz, Jan-Oliver & Seiler, Pascal &, 2023. "Price setting during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic," Occasional Paper Series 324, European Central Bank.
    8. Webel, Karsten, 2022. "A review of some recent developments in the modelling and seasonal adjustment of infra-monthly time series," Discussion Papers 31/2022, Deutsche Bundesbank.

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    Keywords

    Daily price index; scraped online price data; debit card expenditures; real-time information.;
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