<p>The projects developed by <a href="http://www.mit.edu/~afc/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Alberto Cavallo</a> and <a href="http://web.mit.edu/rigobon/www/Robertos_Web_Page/Main.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Roberto Rigobon</a> could be a source of inspiation.</p>

<p>The Billion Prices Project is an academic initiative that uses prices collected from hundreds of online retailers around the world on a <strong>daily basis</strong> to conduct economic research. <a href="http://bpp.mit.edu/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">This page</a> shows their most recent research leveraging high-frequency price data, as well as the US daily inflation index (updated monthly).</p>

<p>Here are the <a href="http://bpp.mit.edu/datasets/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">datasets</a> on Online Micro Price Data, Global Retailers Data...</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-01-19T19:50:23.060Z
Can you elaborate on why do you wish a sub-daily frequency?
emeryville
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-01-19T19:52:22.837Z
I don't work in the field of economics. But I have a very high resolution rainfall dataset (in temporal resolution of minutes). I wanted to do some "fun" analysis to see if people buy more when it rains outside. More time spent outdoors = more time spent shopping. Hence, I was looking for any dataset that would correlate with shopping behavior or economic activity like credit card transaction data.
maximusdooku
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-01-19T20:05:10.177Z
In econ, aggregating your data at the day level (and merging with the Billion Prices Project data) would still be called high frequency data ;-)! Note that the correlation could be reversed, when it rains outside I stay home.
emeryville
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-01-19T20:16:39.430Z
With online retailing, this trend may have reversed, right? Earlier not going out meant not shopping. Today, it might be the opposite. Thank you for the insight.
maximusdooku
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-01-19T08:45:00.043Z
2017-01-19T08:51:37.417Z
2017-01-19T08:51:37.417Z
emeryville
<p>In this paper, they are using Canadian debit card dataset. I am not sure where to get such a dataset.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.cirano.qc.ca/pdf/publication/2009s-23.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://www.cirano.qc.ca/pdf/publication/2009s-23.pdf</a></p>

<p>My broad question is what kind of indicator can I use that indicates real-time economic activity <strong>of the people</strong>? Something that indicates how much people are buying on an hourly basis for an example. I am willing to look at unconventional datasets or willing to scrape information from scratch.</p>

<p>I thought about using Amazon review timestamps for example, but I know want to when people are buying something. Specially over the United States or smaller.</p>

<econometrics><data-request>
Where can I find real-time indicators of economic activity?
maximusdooku
# Where can I find real-time indicators of economic activity?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-01-19)

In this paper, they are using Canadian debit card dataset. I am not sure where to get such a dataset.

<http://www.cirano.qc.ca/pdf/publication/2009s-23.pdf>

My broad question is what kind of indicator can I use that indicates real-time economic activity **of the people**? Something that indicates how much people are buying on an hourly basis for an example. I am willing to look at unconventional datasets or willing to scrape information from scratch.

I thought about using Amazon review timestamps for example, but I know want to when people are buying something. Specially over the United States or smaller.

**Tags:** econometrics, data-request

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2017-01-19. Score: 1

The projects developed by [Alberto Cavallo](http://www.mit.edu/~afc/) and [Roberto Rigobon](http://web.mit.edu/rigobon/www/Robertos_Web_Page/Main.html) could be a source of inspiation.

The Billion Prices Project is an academic initiative that uses prices collected from hundreds of online retailers around the world on a **daily basis** to conduct economic research. [This page](http://bpp.mit.edu/) shows their most recent research leveraging high-frequency price data, as well as the US daily inflation index (updated monthly).

Here are the [datasets](http://bpp.mit.edu/datasets/) on Online Micro Price Data, Global Retailers Data...

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Can you elaborate on why do you wish a sub-daily frequency?  
> **username_0**: I don't work in the field of economics. But I have a very high resolution rainfall dataset (in temporal resolution of minutes). I wanted to do some "fun" analysis to see if people buy more when it rains outside. More time spent outdoors = more time spent shopping. Hence, I was looking for any dataset that would correlate with shopping behavior or economic activity like credit card transaction data.  
> **username_1**: In econ, aggregating your data at the day level (and merging with the Billion Prices Project data) would still be called high frequency data ;-)! Note that the correlation could be reversed, when it rains outside I stay home.  
> **username_0**: With online retailing, this trend may have reversed, right? Earlier not going out meant not shopping. Today, it might be the opposite. Thank you for the insight.  

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