Showing papers by "Alberto Cavallo published in 2020"
TL;DR: The Covid-19 Pandemic has led to changes in consumer expenditure patterns that can introduce significant bias in the measurement of inflation as discussed by the authors, which can cause significant bias for the use of data collec
Abstract: The Covid-19 Pandemic has led to changes in consumer expenditure patterns that can introduce significant bias in the measurement of inflation use data collec
60 citations
23 Apr 2020
TL;DR: The HBS Covid-19 Global Policy Tracker as mentioned in this paper is an initiative by the BGIE unit at Harvard Business School to collect and standardize economic policies implemented as a response to the coronavirus pandemic around the world.
Abstract: The HBS Covid-19 Global Policy Tracker is an initiative by the BGIE unit at Harvard Business School to collect and standardize economic policies implemented as a response to the coronavirus pandemic around the world. We focus on fiscal policy, monetary policy, and lockdowns and quantify government responses in common variables, units, and currencies to facilitate crosscountry comparisons. The database is updated in real-time with the efforts of several dozens of students at HBS and other Harvard schools. Acknowledgements: We are particularly grateful to all the students at HBS and other Harvard Schools who devoted their time and effort to collect and standardize the data. The team, at the time of writing, includes Alex DeVille, Angel Rodriguez, Anna Sakellariadis, Bhumika Agarwalla, Camille Gregory, Dvij Bajpai, Enrique Elias, Eufern Pan, Joaquin de la Maza, John Guo, Joyce Zhang, Lau Skovgaard, Marcia Ambrosi, Margherita Pignatelli, Ratnika Prasad, Rei Morimoto, Rohan Vora, Roni Luo, Ruth van Montfort, Ryan Yu, Soichiro Chiba, Sophia Lien, Ukasha Iqbal, Umang Sota. We are also grateful to Matt Weinzierl, Robin Greenwood, and other HBS faculty who helped at various points in this project, and to the many HBS alumni and other people who contributed policies through the website. Recommended Citation: Cavallo, Alberto, and Tannya Cai. "HBS Covid-19 Global Policy Tracker" Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 20-110, April 2020. Available at www.globalpolicytracker.com
6 citations
Posted Content•
TL;DR: In this article, the Covid-19 Pandemic has led to changes in consumer expenditure patterns that can introduce significant bias in the measurement of inflation, and they use data collected from credit and debit transactions in the US to update the official basket weights and estimate the impact on the Consumer Price Index (CPI).
Abstract: The Covid-19 Pandemic has led to changes in consumer expenditure patterns that can introduce significant bias in the measurement of inflation. I use data collected from credit and debit transactions in the US to update the official basket weights and estimate the impact on the Consumer Price Index (CPI). I find that the Covid inflation rate is higher than the official CPI in the US, for both headline and core indices. I also find similar results with Covid baskets in 10 out of 16 additional countries. The difference is significant and growing over time, as social-distancing rules and behaviors are making consumers spend relatively more on food and other categories with rising inflation, and relatively less on transportation and other categories experiencing significant deflation.
3 citations