Quality Change in Price Indexes | Zendy

William D. Nordhaus | Zendy

AI Assistant Blog Pricing

Home ZAIA Blog

Open Access

Quality Change in Price Indexes

Author(s) -

William D. Nordhaus

Publication year - 1998

Publication title -

the journal of economic perspectives

Language(s) - English

Resource type - Journals

SCImago Journal Rank - 9.614

H-Index - 196

eISSN - 1944-7965

pISSN - 0895-3309

DOI - 10.1257/jep.12.1.59

Subject(s) - pace , price index , quality (philosophy) , economics , index (typography) , price level , econometrics , macroeconomics , public economics , computer science , geography , philosophy , geodesy , epistemology , world wide web

Price indexes provide the fundamental building blocks for measuring the general price level along with real incomes and real output. But the most important single price index for the United States, the CPI, has been criticized as significantly underestimating the pace of quality change. This paper sketches the issues involved in the measurement of quality change in price indexes. It reviews the theory of quality change, discusses how the Bureau of Labor Statistics deals with quality change, and provides examples of measurement issues in practice. It concludes with a proposal to resolve the massive uncertainties in this area.

The content you want is available to Zendy users.

Already have an account? Click here to sign in.

Having issues? You can contact us here

Accelerating Research