Gauging inflation dynamics using online pricing data
The growth of e-commerce has facilitated inflation tracking on a daily basis, namely from aggregating online pricing data. Moreover, the ubiquity of e-commerce in-itself is changing aggregate inflation dynamics. We believe product pricing datasets have a particularly potent use case in generating early inflation signals in opaque markets, such as LatAm, where official statistics are challenging to obtain. In this report, we review the academic literature that examines the behavior of online prices and its response to aggregate national shocks. We also outline where to find alternative sources of inflation data.