Author & Abstract
Christiane Baumeister is the Robert and Irene Bozzone Professor of Economics at University of Notre Dame, where she serves also as Associate Chair of the department. Her research interests include empirical macroeconomics, energy economics, applied time series econometrics and monetary economics. She has published scholarly articles in a number of journals including Econometrica, the American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, the International Economic Review, the Journal of Business and Economic Statistics and the Journal of Applied Econometrics.
Title
Tracking Weekly State-Level Economic Conditions
Abstract
This paper develops a novel dataset of weekly economic conditions indices for the 50 U.S. states going back to 1987 based on mixed-frequency dynamic factor models with weekly, monthly, and quarterly variables that cover multiple dimensions of state economies. We find considerable cross-state heterogeneity in the length, depth, and timing of business cycles. We illustrate the usefulness of these state-level indices for quantifying the main contributors to the economic collapse caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and for evaluating the effectiveness of the Paycheck Protection Program. We also propose an aggregate indicator that gauges the overall weakness of the U.S. economy.
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