Presented by Xavier Jaravel (London School of Economics)
This work constructs high-frequency and timely price index distributions for households in the United States. A simple methodology was developed to combine the information contained in high-frequency public data sources. Using the new database, inflation inequality during the period of high inflation that started during the Covid-19 pandemic and the ensuing period of economic recovery has been analysed. There was meaningful inequality in inflation rates across socio-demographic groups between the summer of 2020 and the summer of 2022.
Xavier Jaravel is Associate Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He is a fellow at the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS), the Center for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), and the College de France. He is also a member of the editorial board of the Review of Economic Studies. He holds a PhD from Harvard (2016) and an undergraduate degree from Sciences Po. His research studies inclusive growth, innovation, international trade, and inequality. His work was published in leading journals including the American Economic Review, the Quarterly Journal of Economics, and the Review of Economics Studies. In 2019 he received the Philip Leverhulme Prize in Economics, and in 2021 the prize for the best French economist below the age of 40 (awarded by Le Monde / Le Cercle des Économistes).
Chair: Peter Levell, Institute for Fiscal Studies
Discussant: Chris Payne, Office for National Statistics