Household Inflation Expectations in France: Lessons from a New Survey and the COVID-19 Crisis

Abstract

– This article documents several stylised facts about household inflation expectations in France based on data from a new survey by the European Central Bank, the Consumer Expectation Survey, conducted online among thousands of households between 2020 and 2021. The results are compared with those from the INSEE CAMME survey (a monthly consumer confidence survey), which has been carried out for many years. The conclusions drawn from the results obtained through these two surveys converge: the level of inflation anticipated by households is higher than actual or forecasted inflation. During the period 2020-2021, inflation expectations were positively correlated not only with current inflation, but also with the expected level of unemployment. During the COVID-19 crisis, only the first lockdown had a positive effect on expectations. However, the methodology of the two surveys differs, leading to discrepancies in the extent of the bias on current inflation, the dispersion of expected inflation or the intensity of correlations with actual inflation or with unemployment. © 2022, Institut National de la Statistique et des Etudes Economiques. All rights reserved.