Do stay-at-home orders cause people to stay at home? Effects of stay-at-home orders on consumer behavior

Arbeitspapier

We link the county-level rollout of stay-at-home orders to anonymized cellphone records and consumer spending data. We document three patterns. First, stay-at-home orders caused people to stay at home: county-level measures of mobility declined by between 9% and 13% by the day after the stay-at-home order went into effect. Second, stay-at-home orders caused large reductions in spending in sectors associated with mobility: restaurants and retail stores. However, food delivery sharply increased after orders went into effect. Third, there is substantial county-level heterogeneity in consumer behavior in the days leading up to a stay-at-home order.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: Working Paper ; No. 2020-12

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft
• Subject: Konsumentenverhalten ; Mobilität ; Politische Partei ; Coronavirus ; Gesundheitspolitik ; USA

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Alexander, Diane ; Karger, Ezra
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago
• (where): Chicago, IL
• (when): 2020

Further information

• DOI: doi:10.21033/wp-2020-12
• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/230390
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:44 AM CET