Volume 20, Issue 2 April 2024

A New Supply Bottlenecks Index Based on Newspaper Data

Abstract

We develop a new monthly indicator of supply bottlenecks using newspaper articles. The supply bottlenecks index (SBI) provides a consistent narrative of supply issues related to wars, natural disasters, strikes, and, most recently, the COVID-19 pandemic. Innovations in the SBI have important macroeconomic implications: an increase in the SBI works as a cost push shock, decreasing industrial production and employment and pushing prices up, making monetary policy face important trade-offs.

Authors

  • Pablo Burriel
  • Ivan Kataryniuk
  • Carlos Moreno Perez
  • Francesca Viani

JEL codes

  • F40
  • E23
  • E31