Friday, March 15
8:30 am
Continental Breakfast
Session 1, Chair: Katharine Abraham, University of Maryland and NBER
9:00 am
Welcome from Conference Organizers and Opening Remarks from James Poterba, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and NBER
9:10 am

Re-Engineering Key National Economic Indicators (slides)

Gabriel Ehrlich, University of Michigan
John C. Haltiwanger, University of Maryland and NBER
Ron S. Jarmin, U.S. Census Bureau
David Johnson, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine
Matthew D. Shapiro, University of Michigan and NBER

Discussant:
Robert C. Feenstra, University of California, Davis and NBER
9:50 am

From Transactions Data to Economic Statistics: Constructing Real-Time, High-Frequency, Geographic Measures of Consumer Spending (slides)

Aditya Aladangady, University of Michigan
Shifrah Aron-Dine, Stanford University
Wendy Dunn, Federal Reserve Board
Laura Feiveson, U. S. Department of Treasury
Paul Lengermann, Federal Reserve Board
Claudia R. Sahm, Jain Family Institute

Discussant:
Chris Wheat, JP Morgan Chase Institute
10:30 am
Break
Session 2, Chair: David Wilcox, Federal Reserve Board, retired
11:00 am

Off to the Races: A Comparison of Machine Learning and Alternative Data for Predicting Economic Indicators (slides)


(discussant slides)
Andrea Batch, Bureau of Economic Analysis
Jeffrey C. Chen, Bureau of Economic Analysis
Alexander Driessen, Bureau of Economic Analysis
Abe Dunn, Bureau of Economic Analysis
Kyle K. Hood, Bureau of Economic Analysis

Discussant:
Francis X. Diebold, University of Pennsylvania and NBER
11:40 am

A Machine Learning Analysis of Seasonal and Cyclical Sales in Weekly Scanner Data (slides)

Rishab Guha, Harvard University
Serena Ng, Columbia University and NBER

Discussant:
Gary Cornwall, Bureau of Economic Analysis
12:20 pm
Lunch and Keynote Address:
Introduction, Ron Jarmin, U.S. Census Bureau

How Statistics Netherlands Intends to Use Big Data to Improve Official Statistics, While Reducing Costs and Lowering Burden
Tjark Tjin-A-Tsoi, Director General, Statistics Netherlands

Session 3, Chair: Barry Johnson, Internal Revenue Service
1:30 pm

Investigating Alternative Data Sources to Reduce Respondent Burden in United States Census Bureau Retail Economic Data Products (slides)

Rebecca J. Hutchinson, U.S. Census Bureau
1:50 pm

The Scope and Impact of Open Source Software: A Framework for Analysis and Preliminary Cost Estimates (slides)

Carol Robbins, National Science Foundation
Gizem Korkmaz, Westat
Jose Bayoan Santiago Calderon, Bureau of Economic Analysis
Claire Kelling, Pennsylvania State University
Sallie Keller, U.S. Census Bureau
Stephanie S. Shipp, University of Virginia
2:10 pm

Improving the Accuracy of Economic Measurement with Multiple Data Sources: The Case of Payroll Employment Data (slides)

Tomaz Cajner, Federal Reserve Board
Leland D. Crane, Federal Reserve Board of Governors
Ryan Decker, Federal Reserve Board
Adrian Hamins-Puertolas, Federal Reserve Board of Governors
Christopher Kurz, Federal Reserve Board
2:30 pm

Automating Response Evaluation for Franchising Questions on the 2017 Economic Census (slides)

Andrew L. Baer, International Monetary Fund
J. Bradford Jensen, Georgetown University and NBER
Shawn D. Klimek, Department of Commerce
Lisa Singh, Georgetown University
Joseph Staudt, U.S. Census Bureau
Yifang Wei, Georgetown University
2:50 pm
Break
Session 4, Chair: David Wessel, Brookings Institution
3:20 pm

Valuing Housing Services in the Era of Big Data: A User Cost Approach Leveraging Zillow Microdata (slides)

Marina Gindelsky, Bureau of Economic Analysis
Jeremy Moulton, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Scott A. Wentland, Bureau of Economic Analysis

Discussant:
Raven Molloy, Federal Reserve Board
4:00 pm

Quantifying Productivity Growth in Health Care Using Insurance Claims and Administrative Data (slides)

Abe Dunn, Bureau of Economic Analysis
Dana Goldman, University of Southern California and NBER
John Romley, University of Southern California
Neeraj Sood, University of Southern California and NBER

Discussant:
Helen G. Levy, University of Michigan and NBER
4:40 pm

Nowcasting the Local Economy: Using Yelp Data to Measure Economic Activity

Edward L. Glaeser, Harvard University and NBER
Hyunjin Kim, INSEAD
Michael Luca, Harvard University and NBER

Discussant:
Michael Cafarella, MIT CSAIL
5:20 pm
Adjourn
5:30 pm
CRIW Membership Meeting
Katharine Abraham, University of Maryland and NBER
Saturday, March 16
8:30 am
Continental Breakfast
Session 5, Chair: Emi Nakamura, University of California at Berkeley and NBER
9:00 am

Transforming Naturally Occurring Text Data into Economic Statistics: The Case of Online Job Vacancy Postings (slides)

David Copple, Bank of England
Bradley J. Speigner, Bank of England
Arthur Turrell, Bank of England

Discussant:
Ayşegül Şahin, University of Texas at Austin and NBER
9:40 am

Using Public Data to Generate Industrial Classification Codes (slides)

Sudip Bhattacharjee, University of Connecticut
John Cuffe, U.S. Census Bureau
Ugochukwu Etudo, University of Connecticut
Justin Smith, U.S. Census Bureau
Nevada Basdeo, U.S. Census Bureau
10:00 am

Measuring Export Price Movements With Administrative Trade Data (slides)

Don Fast, Bureau of Labor Statistics
Susan Fleck, Bureau of Labor Statistics
10:20 am

Big Data in the U.S. Consumer Price Index: Experiences & Plans (slides)

David Friedman, Bureau of Labor Statistics
Crystal G. Konny, Bureau of Labor Statistics
Brendan K. Williams, Bureau of Labor Statistics
10:40 am
Break
Session 6, Chair: Brent Moulton, Bureau of Economic Analysis, retired
11:10 am

Estimating the Benefits of New Products (slides)


Estimating the Benefits of New Products: Some Approximations
W. Erwin Diewert, University of British Columbia and NBER
Robert C. Feenstra, University of California, Davis and NBER

Discussant:
Marshall B. Reinsdorf, Independent Consultant
11:50 am
Pick up boxed lunch
Session 7, Chair: Daniel Goroff, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
12:00 pm

Securing Commercial Data for Economic Statistics

Katharine G. Abraham, University of Maryland and NBER
Margaret Levenstein, University of Michigan
Matthew D. Shapiro, University of Michigan and NBER
12:40 pm
Concluding Session
1:00 pm
Adjourn