IMF Working Papers

E-commerce During Covid: Stylized Facts from 47 Economies

By Alberto Cavallo, Prachi Mishra, Antonio Spilimbergo

January 28, 2022

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Alberto Cavallo, Prachi Mishra, and Antonio Spilimbergo. E-commerce During Covid: Stylized Facts from 47 Economies, (USA: International Monetary Fund, 2022) accessed November 8, 2024

Disclaimer: IMF Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to encourage debate. The views expressed in IMF Working Papers are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the IMF, its Executive Board, or IMF management.

Summary

We study e-commerce across 47 economies and 26 industries during the COVID-19 pandemic using aggregated and anonymized transaction-level data from Mastercard, scaled to represent total consumer spending. The share of online transactions in total consumption increased more in economies with higher pre-pandemic e-commerce shares, exacerbating the digital divide across economies. Overall, the latest data suggest that these spikes in online spending shares are dissipating at the aggregate level, though there is variation across industries. In particular, the share of online spending in professional services and recreation has fallen below its pre-pandemic trend, but we observe a longer-lasting shift to digital in retail and restaurants.

Subject: Consumer credit, Consumption, COVID-19, Economic sectors, Expenditure, Health, Money, National accounts, Tourism

Keywords: Consumer credit, Consumption, Consumption, COVID trend, COVID-19, COVID-19, Data from Mastercard, Digitalization, E-commerce, E-commerce share, Global, IMF working paper research Department, Spending share, Technological Change, Tourism

Publication Details

  • Pages:

    19

  • Volume:

    ---

  • DOI:

    ---

  • Issue:

    ---

  • Series:

    Working Paper No. 2022/019

  • Stock No:

    WPIEA2022019

  • ISBN:

    9781616359218

  • ISSN:

    1018-5941

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