The convergence of the internet and mobile payment technology means that one-day there will be real-time, or at least daily, reports on consumer spending.
Already, data from Google and online retailers is beginning to seep into the conversation about the strength of the economy. It takes time for these indicators to build a track record but I believe economic data will be completely overhauled in the next 10 years.
The WSJ just published an awesome story about people from the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment survey are using data from a financial app to predict changes in the survey.
A recent decrease in the number of credit limit breaches by Pageonce users in July means that, while consumer sentiment is expected to continue getting worse in the near term, it should see improvement soon.
With Pageonce, “now we have comprehensive, accurate information about hundreds of thousands of people, their expenditures on different credit cards plus their bank accounts, bills, savings accounts,” Mr. Silverman said. “This is extremely exciting for us.”
