What a handy tool, thanks for sharing it BC.
A few thoughts:
1) Is there a way for the tool to show Year-to-Year comparisons vs. everything relative to January 2020? For example, in December it'll show a surge in shopping, but what we really want is spending in Dec 2020 vs. Dec 2019.
2) I can think of a few ways the data could be a little biased based on how it computes spending (using credit card data by zip code, on the bottom of page 11, as pointed out by 82lsju),
i) This may not capture parts of the surge in government spending. Hotels might actually doing better than is shown because many local governments are buying up hotel rooms to help isolate family members or to house homeless people.
ii) This is a smaller effect, but it wouldn't capture people using up all their gift cards. Because of bankruptcy risks, I'm spending all points whenever possible. Those companies' outstanding liabilities are decreasing, but it doesn't show up in my credit card statement.
3) I imagine CA's data is lower than the nation in general because CA was first to lock down, and has been locked down the longest, leading to more of a long-term bunker mentality. Californian's grocery spending also surged more than other states in mid-March through mid-April, and my guess a lot of apparel & general merch. spending simply shifted to being counted in the grocery bucket. Most people I know are buying their personal care items, toys, etc., at Costco and Target, which may be categorized as groceries.
4) The massive drop in healthcare spending shows that much of the decrease cannot be addressed simply by "opening up." The decrease is because people are scared. Spending in GA has dropped as much as the overall national trend, and has not materially increased over the US average. It's not like people want to skip their cancer screenings, but they are.
https://imgur.com/xBLeNek
A few thoughts:
1) Is there a way for the tool to show Year-to-Year comparisons vs. everything relative to January 2020? For example, in December it'll show a surge in shopping, but what we really want is spending in Dec 2020 vs. Dec 2019.
2) I can think of a few ways the data could be a little biased based on how it computes spending (using credit card data by zip code, on the bottom of page 11, as pointed out by 82lsju),
i) This may not capture parts of the surge in government spending. Hotels might actually doing better than is shown because many local governments are buying up hotel rooms to help isolate family members or to house homeless people.
ii) This is a smaller effect, but it wouldn't capture people using up all their gift cards. Because of bankruptcy risks, I'm spending all points whenever possible. Those companies' outstanding liabilities are decreasing, but it doesn't show up in my credit card statement.
3) I imagine CA's data is lower than the nation in general because CA was first to lock down, and has been locked down the longest, leading to more of a long-term bunker mentality. Californian's grocery spending also surged more than other states in mid-March through mid-April, and my guess a lot of apparel & general merch. spending simply shifted to being counted in the grocery bucket. Most people I know are buying their personal care items, toys, etc., at Costco and Target, which may be categorized as groceries.
4) The massive drop in healthcare spending shows that much of the decrease cannot be addressed simply by "opening up." The decrease is because people are scared. Spending in GA has dropped as much as the overall national trend, and has not materially increased over the US average. It's not like people want to skip their cancer screenings, but they are.
https://imgur.com/xBLeNek