90% economy, 120% gastronomy

摘要

COVID-19 has altered life as we know it. When governments imposed lock-downs in March, people transformed their homes into makeshift offices, gyms and pubs. For many, crammed commutes and bustling nightlife became a distant memory. Now that countries have eased restrictions, residents are venturing outside again-but not as much as before. Globally, they made perhaps 25% fewer trips per day in July than they did in early March, according to The Economist's analysis of Google's phone-tracking data. Consumer caution has hit some industries harder than others. By training a statistical model on Google's global search data since 2016, we find that traffic for "res- taurant" (or similar words in other languages) is currently 17% lower than we would usually expect for this time of year. Booze stores may be doing better, since searches for "hangover" have rebounded to a normal level for raucous July, after dwindling by 40% in March. But enquiries for "tickets" are still down by 58%. This newspaper has called the result of such an uneven recovery "the 90% economy".