Tracking the economic impact of covid-19 in real time
It is not necessary to wait for quarterly GDP numbers to see what the virus is doing to activity
AS FEARS GROW about the impact of the covid-19 virus, financial markets have slumped. Now there are signs that the virus is moving from traders’ screens to the real economy. No one will know the true economic impact for some time, because official statistics are published with a lag: the first estimate of GDP growth in the current quarter, for instance, will not appear until April 29th. Analysts cannot wait that long. So they are turning to “real-time” data, mainly produced by the private sector, on everything from transport use to social-media activity. None of these measures is reliable by itself, but together they give a decent impression of what is going on.
This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “Spluttering”
United States March 14th 2020
- Covid-19 is spreading rapidly in America. The country does not look ready
- Tracking the economic impact of covid-19 in real time
- Working-class whites deserted Bernie Sanders in the Midwest
- A renewable-energy boom is changing the politics of global warming
- Small towns and rural parts of America have a policing problem
- The Trump campaign
From the March 14th 2020 edition
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