Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/259755 
Authors: 
Year of Publication: 
2020
Citation: 
[Journal:] Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics [ISSN:] 2235-6282 [Volume:] 156 [Issue:] 1 [Article No.:] 13 [Publisher:] Springer [Place:] Heidelberg [Year:] 2020 [Pages:] 1-11
Publisher: 
Springer, Heidelberg
Abstract: 
Sharp changes in consumer expenditure may bias inflation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using public data from debit card transactions, I quantify these changes in consumer spending, update CPI basket weights and construct an alternative price index to measure the effect of the COVID-induced weighting bias on the Swiss consumer price index. I find that inflation was higher during the lock-down than suggested by CPI inflation. The annual inflation rate of the COVID price index was - 0.4% by April 2020, compared to - 1.1% of the equivalent CPI. Persistent "low-touch" consumer behavior can further lead to inflation being underestimated by more than a quarter of a percentage point until the end of 2020.
Subjects: 
Inflation
Consumption expenditure
Card transaction data
High-frequency data
COVID-19
JEL: 
C43
E21
E31
E37
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by Logo
Document Type: 
Article

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