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Measuring Regional Inequality by Internet Car Price Advertisements: Evidence for Germany

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  • Konstantin Kholodilin
  • Boriss Siliverstovs

Abstract

We suggest to use Internet car sale price advertisements for measuring economic inequality between and within German regions. Our estimates of regional income levels and Gini indices based on advertisements are highly, positively correlated with the official figures. This implies that the observed car prices can serve as a reasonably good proxy for income levels. In contrast to the traditional measures, our data can be fast and inexpensively retrieved from the web, and more importantly allow to estimate Gini indices at the NUTS2 level - something that never has been done before. Our approach to measuring regional inequality is a useful alternative source of information that could complement the officially available measures.

Suggested Citation

  • Konstantin Kholodilin & Boriss Siliverstovs, 2010. "Measuring Regional Inequality by Internet Car Price Advertisements: Evidence for Germany," KOF Working papers 10-261, KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich.
    • Handle: RePEc:kof:wpskof:10-261
    DOI: 10.3929/ethz-a-010705429
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Konstantin A. Kholodilin & Maximilian Podstawski & Boriss Siliverstovs, 2010. "Do Google Searches Help in Nowcasting Private Consumption?: A Real-Time Evidence for the US," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 997, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    2. Nikolaos Askitas & Klaus F. Zimmermann, 2009. "Google Econometrics and Unemployment Forecasting," Applied Economics Quarterly (formerly: Konjunkturpolitik), Duncker & Humblot, Berlin, vol. 55(2), pages 107-120.
    3. D'Amuri, Francesco & Marcucci, Juri, 2009. "‘Google it!’ Forecasting the US unemployment rate with a Google job search index," ISER Working Paper Series 2009-32, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    4. Jeremy Ginsberg & Matthew H. Mohebbi & Rajan S. Patel & Lynnette Brammer & Mark S. Smolinski & Larry Brilliant, 2009. "Detecting influenza epidemics using search engine query data," Nature, Nature, vol. 457(7232), pages 1012-1014, February.
    5. Peter Krause & Andrea Schäfer, 2005. "Verteilung von Vermögen und Einkommen in Deutschland: große Unterschiede nach Geschlecht und Alter," DIW Wochenbericht, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research, vol. 72(11), pages 199-207.
    6. Konstantin Kholodilin & Maximilian Podstawski & Boriss Siliverstovs, 2010. "Do Google Searches Help in Nowcasting Private Consumption?," KOF Working papers 10-256, KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich.
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    Cited by:

    1. David Iselin & Boriss Siliverstovs, 2013. "Using Newspapers for Tracking the Business Cycle," KOF Working papers 13-337, KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich.
    2. Boriss Siliverstovs & Konstantin A. Kholodilin & Vyacheslav Dombrovsky, 2014. "Using Personal Car Register for Measuring Economic Inequality in Countries with a Large Share of Shadow Economy: Evidence for Latvia," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 60(4), pages 948-966, December.
    3. David Iselin & Boriss Siliverstovs, 2016. "Using newspapers for tracking the business cycle: a comparative study for Germany and Switzerland," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(12), pages 1103-1118, March.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Car price advertisements; Economic inequality; German NUTS1 and NUTS regions; Gini index; Internet;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C21 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Cross-Sectional Models; Spatial Models; Treatment Effect Models
    • O47 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Empirical Studies of Economic Growth; Aggregate Productivity; Cross-Country Output Convergence
    • R11 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes

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