'Twas Four Weeks before Christmas: Retail Sales and the Length of the Christmas Shopping Season

Emek Basker

No 414, Working Papers from Department of Economics, University of Missouri

Abstract: I study the effect of the length of the Christmas "shopping season" in the United States (traditionally, beginning the day after US Thanksgiving) on aggregate retail sales. I find a statistically significant increase in per-capita retail sales in November and December (combined) of approximately $6.50 per additional day over the relevant range. The implications of these finding are briefly discussed.

Keywords: Christmas; Retail; Shopping (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L81 D12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-acc
Date: Written
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Published in Economic Letters, 89:3 (December 2005), pp. 317-322

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Journal Article: 'Twas four weeks before Christmas: Retail sales and the length of the Christmas shopping season (2005)
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Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:umc:wpaper:0414

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