The CEPR Network on Household Finance is inviting you to join the online seminar from the CEPR Household Finance Seminar Series on Friday 12 May, 2023
Presenter: Michaela Pagel (Columbia University)
Paper: Cookies and Shopping
Paper Abstract:
This study examines the impact of enhanced data privacy standards on online shopping. Specifically, we analyze the staggered adoption of cookie permission and compliance systems by US retailers in response to the European Union's data protection standards (EUGDPR) and the California Privacy Act (CAPRA). We combine information on when specific retailers introduced a cookie compliance sytem with a transactions dataset from a US data aggregation and analytics provider, encompassing bank and credit card transactions and merchant information. We find that online shopping, relative to offline spending, decreases significantly after retailers introduce cookie compliance systems. To address potential selection into who shops with enhanced privacy when, we also use exposure to cookie compliance systems, based on pre-policy shopping baskets, in a reduced form IV specification. Our IV specification results confirm the initial findings. Our findings provide insights into the relationship between data privacy regulations and consumer actions, informing policy considerations at the state and federal levels.
If you would like to register for the Seminar Series, please register on Zoom here.
For other queries please contact Lydia Williams, Events Officer at [email protected] or visit the Seminar Webpage here.
