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The “power and the curse” of high-frequency data

Sep 21, 2021
Employee timecard data can hint at what’s happening in the labor market in real time, but drawing conclusions takes nuance.
A waiter works in a nearly empty restaurant in New York. Among the businesses tracked by Homebase, which makes employee scheduling and timecard software, the number of employees working has declined over the past two months.
Spencer Platt via Getty Images

When economic predictions are wrong

Jul 22, 2021
When we tell you about economic news, we’re always saying things like "numbers were higher (or lower) than expected." How much, then, should we consider economists’ expectations?
A once-in-a-lifetime pandemic has thrown a wrench in economic forecasting, economists say.
Spencer Platt via Getty Images

How COVID-19 made high-frequency data a go-to economic indicator

Mar 31, 2021
More than ever, economists are turning to alternative forms of data to help them understand the economy in real time.
Geolocation data collected from mobile devices has become a useful pandemic indicator for the CDC, the Federal Reserve and Wall Street analysts.
Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images