JUE Insight: Measuring movement and social contact with smartphone data: a real-time application to COVID-19

A-Tier
Journal: Journal of Urban Economics
Year: 2022
Volume: 127
Issue: C

Authors (5)

Couture, Victor (not in RePEc) Dingel, Jonathan I. (Columbia University) Green, Allison (not in RePEc) Handbury, Jessie (not in RePEc) Williams, Kevin R. (not in RePEc)

Score contribution per author:

0.807 = (α=2.02 / 5 authors) × 2.0x A-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

Tracking human activity in real time and at fine spatial scale is particularly valuable during episodes such as the COVID-19 pandemic. In this paper, we discuss the suitability of smartphone data for quantifying movement and social contact. These data cover broad sections of the US population and exhibit pre-pandemic patterns similar to conventional survey data. We develop and make publicly available a location exposure index that summarizes county-to-county movements and a device exposure index that quantifies social contact within venues. We also investigate the reliability of smartphone movement data during the pandemic.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:eee:juecon:v:127:y:2022:i:c:s0094119021000103
Journal Field
Urban/Geographic
Author Count
5
Added to Database
2026-01-25