Measuring Movement and Social Contact with Smartphone Data: A Real-Time Application to COVID-19

Victor Couture, Jonathan Dingel, Allison E. Green, Jessie Handbury and Kevin Williams

No 27560, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: Tracking human activity in real time and at fine spatial scale is particularly valuable during episodes such as the COVID-19 pandemic. In this paper, we discuss the suitability of smartphone data for quantifying movement and social contact. We show that these data cover broad sections of the US population and exhibit movement patterns similar to conventional survey data. We develop and make publicly available a location exposure index that summarizes county-to-county movements and a device exposure index that quantifies social contact within venues. We use these indices to document how pandemic-induced reductions in activity vary across people and places.

JEL-codes: C8 R1 R23 R4 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ure
Note: IO ITI
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (36)

Published as Victor Couture & Jonathan I. Dingel & Allison Green & Jessie Handbury & Kevin R. Williams, 2021. "JUE Insight: Measuring movement and social contact with smartphone data: a real-time application to COVID-19," Journal of Urban Economics, .

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Related works:
Working Paper: Measuring Movement and Social Contact with Smartphone Data: A Real-time Application to COVID-19 (2021)
Working Paper: Measuring Movement and Social Contact with Smartphone Data: A Real-time Application to COVID-19 (2020)
Working Paper: Measuring Movement and Social Contact with Smartphone Data: A Real-Time Application to COVID-19 (2020)
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