Nowcasting the Economic Impact of COVID-19

Leverage Big Data to track COVID-19’s impact on economic activity in Asia and the Pacific!

approval

Participate multiple times!

group

Teams of
1 - 5 people

Find the details about the timeline below!

SELECTION CRITERIA

Proposals need not cover all the themes above or even all the aspects within any given theme. See the selection criteria below:

ACCURACY AND TIMELINESS

The accuracy and timeliness with which the high-frequency indicators can track the official statistical measures. The more accurate and closer to real-time, the better.

ABILITY TO TRACK INDICATORS

The proposal’s ability to track indicators that are important to an economy—for example, tracking tourism variables in economies like Thailand or the Maldives where tourism is very important, or remittances in the Philippines or Bangladesh where they make up a large share of GDP. If a proposal tracks several indicators covering more of an economy, that is an advantage.

CROSS-COUNTRY IMPLEMENTATION

Whether the suggested data and approach can be implemented across several ADB member countries. If the proposal demonstrates the use of the use of the approach for several countries, that is a plus.

ABILITY TO TRACK IN DATA-SPARSE COUNTRIES

The ability to track activity in data-sparse countries as well as in data-rich countries will be judged favorably. However, for a submission to qualify, it is not required to predict for all countries and all data points for any indicator.

EASE & COST OF IMPLEMENTATION

The ease and cost of implementing and maintaining the proposed approach. Approaches that are easier and less costly to implement and maintain, and which are more transparent and interpretable for users and policymakers, are preferred.