Pubblicazioni

Web scraping is a method for extracting large amounts of data from online sources. In food price analysis, however, this data collection technique has not yet received a lot of attention. We discuss how this method can be used in food price research and identify areas of application. We find that web scraping is a promising method to collect customized, high-frequency data in real time, overcoming several limitations of currently used food price data. While today’s applications mostly focus on (online) consumer prices, the scope of applications broadens as more and more price data are published online. To better deal with the technical and legal challenges of web scraping and to exploit its scalability, joint data collection projects in the field of agricultural and food economics should be considered.