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

Victor Couture, Jonathan Dingel, Allison Green, Jessie Handbury and Kevin R. Williams ()
Additional contact information
Victor Couture: University of British Columbia
Allison Green: Princeton University
Kevin R. Williams: Cowles Foundation, Yale University, https://som.yale.edu/faculty/kevin-r-williams

No 2241, Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers from Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University

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 R4 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 34 pages
Date: 2020-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (26)

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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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