Readme file for PCE index subcategory data

Based on:
“The Long and Variable Lags of Monetary Policy: Evidence from Disaggregated Price Indices”
By Boragan Aruoba and Thomas Drechsel 
Journal of Monetary Economics, Vol. 148, November 2024

Instructions:

— The files ending in "..._L1", "..._L2", etc. contain the PCE index disaggregated to different levels, going towards "finer" disaggregation

— In "PCE_series.xlsx", the variable names are explained; as you will see, we came up with our own variable coding system to organize the different levels

— The remaining files are the original data files we retrieved from the BEA, for reference

— We also added the data for the controls we use in the local projections, in "LP_controls.xlsx"

Note: we make the estimated monetary policy shocks used that are used in the local projects available separately
See https://econweb.umd.edu/~drechsel/research.htm

For any questions, you can contact us at aruoba@umd.edu or drechsel@umd.edu