Publications
Publications
- Journal of Monetary Economics
Online and Official Price Indexes: Measuring Argentina's Inflation
By: Alberto Cavallo
Abstract
Prices collected from online retailers can be used to construct daily price indexes that complement official statistics. This paper studies their ability to match official inflation estimates in five Latin American countries, with a focus on Argentina, where official statistics have been heavily criticized in recent years. The data were collected between October 2007 and March 2011 from the largest supermarket in each country. In Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Venezuela, online price indexes approximate both the level and main dynamics of official inflation. By contrast, Argentina’s online inflation rate is nearly three times higher than the official estimate.
Keywords
Inflation; Online Price Index; Economics; Macroeconomics; Inflation And Deflation; Price; Latin America; Argentina
Citation
Cavallo, Alberto. "Online and Official Price Indexes: Measuring Argentina's Inflation." Journal of Monetary Economics 60, no. 2 (March 2013): 152–165.
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