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A Pseudo Panel Difference-in-Differences (DiD) Analysis of Online Shopping Behavior in the Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC) Region

Jason Hawkins, Usman Ahmed, Omid Armantalab

arXiv 4 Jul 2026 · Econometrics

arXiv:2607.03665 · PDF · DOI · OpenAlex · Extracted main text

Abstract

Online shopping is a growing trend, particularly following the COVID-19 lock-downs enacted by many cities. Understanding these trends requires robust panel dat methods. However, panel data (i.e., with repeated measurements of the same observational units) are often unavailable. In this study, we use a propensity score weighting (PSW) approach to adjust repeated cross-sectional travel diary surveys collected in the Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC) region. The most common home delivery is packages (2.09 days per week in 2023), followed by food (0.36 days per week in 2023). We find that single-family detached and townhouse residents tend to receive more home deliveries than those living in apartments. We also find a difference in several patterns pre- and post-COVID pandemic. Vehicle deficient households did not exhibit the same increase in home delivery frequency as other households pre-COVID, but the pattern reversed in the post-COVID period - i.e., vehicle deficient households saw a relative increase in delivery frequency. Overall, this study demonstrates the pseudo-panel approach to causal inference by leveraging differences in PSW-weighted in delivery frequency across treatment groups.

Citation extraction

46
references
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in-text mentions
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distinct cited
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self-citations
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main-text words

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Most heavily cited references

The works this paper leans on most, across its whole bibliography — not restricted to papers in our corpus. Ranked by composite intensity, which combines how often a work is mentioned, how many sections mention it, and how much of that falls in the main text rather than the appendix.

ReferenceIntensityMentionsSectionsMain text
1Yee, Julie L. and Niemeier, Debbie (1996) Advantages and disadvantages: longitudinal vs. repeated cross-section surveys0.64422100%
2Frethey-Bentham, Catherine (2011) Pseudo Panels as an Alternative Study Design0.58531100%
3Etminani-Ghasrodashti, Roya and Hamidi, Shima (2020) Online shopping as a substitute or complement to in-store shopping trips in Iran?0.51121100%
4Figliozzi, Miguel and Unnikrishnan, Avinash (2021) Home-deliveries before-during COVID-19 lockdown: Accessibility, environmental justice, equity, and policy implications0.51121100%
5Weltevreden, Jesse W. J (2007) Substitution or complementarity? How the Internet changes city centre shopping0.51121100%
6Anderson, William P. and Chatterjee, Lata and Lakshmanan, T.r (2003) E-commerce, Transportation, and Economic Geography0.40511100%
7Beckers, Joris and Cárdenas, Ivan and Verhetsel, Ann (2018) Identifying the geography of online shopping adoption in Belgium0.40511100%
8US Census Bureau (2025) Annual Retail Trade Survey Shows Impact of Online Shopping on Retail Sales During COVID-19 Pandemic0.40511100%
9Cao, Xinyu Jason and Xu, Zhiyi and Douma, Frank (2012) The interactions between e-shopping and traditional in-store shopping: an application of structural equations model0.40511100%
10Chevallier, Leslie Belton and Coninck, Frédéric de and Motte-Baumvol… (2016) The sustainability of car-dependent peri-urban areas in the light of households’ e-shopping practices0.40511100%

Showing the top 10 of 46 scored citations.