Premium
HEDONIC IMPUTATION AND THE PRICE INDEX PROBLEM: AN APPLICATION TO HOUSING
Author(s) -
HILL ROBERT J.,
MELSER DANIEL
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
economic inquiry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.823
H-Index - 72
eISSN - 1465-7295
pISSN - 0095-2583
DOI - 10.1111/j.1465-7295.2007.00110.x
Subject(s) - imputation (statistics) , economics , hedonic index , discretion , price index , econometrics , index (typography) , context (archaeology) , microeconomics , computer science , statistics , mathematics , missing data , paleontology , world wide web , law , political science , biology
In this study, we show how use of the hedonic imputation method complicates the price index problem. In addition to the usual choice between formulas such as Fisher and Törnqvist, the fact that index compilers have some discretion over which prices are imputed implies that it is necessary to choose as well between different varieties of each formula. The functional form of the hedonic model must also be taken into account. We illustrate the importance of these issues in a housing context using house price data for three regions in Sydney over a 3‐yr period. ( JEL C43, E31, O47, R31)