IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/revinw/v70y2024i1p60-79.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Retrospective Computations of Price Index Numbers: Theory and Application

Author

Listed:
  • Ludwig von Auer
  • Alena Shumskikh

Abstract

Due to outdated weighting information, a Laspeyres‐based consumer price index (CPI) is prone to accumulating upward bias. Therefore, the present study introduces and examines simple and transparent revision approaches that retrospectively address the source of the bias. They provide a consistent long‐run time series of the CPI and require no additional information. Furthermore, a coherent decomposition of the bias into the contributions of individual product groups is developed. In a case study, the approaches are applied to a Laspeyres‐based CPI. The empirical results confirm the theoretical predictions. The proposed revision approaches are adoptable not only to most national CPIs but also to other price‐level measures such as the producer price index or the import and export price indices.

Suggested Citation

  • Ludwig von Auer & Alena Shumskikh, 2024. "Retrospective Computations of Price Index Numbers: Theory and Application," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 70(1), pages 60-79, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:revinw:v:70:y:2024:i:1:p:60-79
    DOI: 10.1111/roiw.12627
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/roiw.12627
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/roiw.12627?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ludwig von Auer & Jochen Wengenroth, 2021. "Consistent aggregation with superlative and other price indices," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 184(2), pages 589-615, April.
    2. Walter Erwin Diewert & Marco Huwiler & Ulrich Kohli, 2009. "Retrospective Price Indices and Substitution Bias," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics (SJES), Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics (SSES), vol. 145(II), pages 127-135, June.
    3. David E. Lebow & Jeremy B. Rudd, 2003. "Measurement Error in the Consumer Price Index: Where Do We Stand?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 41(1), pages 159-201, March.
    4. D. S. Prasada Rao & Alicia Rambaldi & Howard Doran, 2010. "Extrapolation Of Purchasing Power Parities Using Multiple Benchmarks And Auxiliary Information: A New Approach," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 56(s1), pages 59-98, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Robert J. Hill & Alice O. Nakamura, 2010. "Improving Inflation And Related Performance Measures For Nations: An Introduction," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 56(s1), pages 1-10, June.
    2. Jessie Handbury & Tsutomu Watanabe & David E. Weinstein, 2013. "How Much Do Official Price Indexes Tell Us about Inflation?," NBER Working Papers 19504, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Schmitt-Grohé, Stephanie & Uribe, Martín, 2012. "On quality bias and inflation targets," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(4), pages 393-400.
    4. Erica L. Groshen & Brian C. Moyer & Ana M. Aizcorbe & Ralph Bradley & David M. Friedman, 2017. "How Government Statistics Adjust for Potential Biases from Quality Change and New Goods in an Age of Digital Technologies: A View from the Trenches," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 31(2), pages 187-210, Spring.
    5. Libor Dusek & Lubomir Lizal (ed.), 2011. "CERGE-EI Tackles Transition," CERGE-EI Books, The Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education - Economics Institute, Prague, edition 1, number b05, May.
    6. Bokor, László, 2007. "Optimality criteria of hybrid inflation-price level targeting," MPRA Paper 10278, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised Jul 2008.
    7. Davis, Morris A. & Martin, Robert F., 2009. "Housing, home production, and the equity- and value-premium puzzles," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 81-91, June.
    8. Timothy K.M. Beatty & Erling Røed Larsen & Dag Einar Sommervoll, 2005. "Measuring the Price of Housing Consumption for Owners in the CPI," Discussion Papers 427, Statistics Norway, Research Department.
    9. Hanousek, Jan & Filer, Randall K, 2004. "Consumers' Opinion of Inflation Bias Due to Quality Improvements," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 53(1), pages 235-254, October.
    10. Brian Adams & Lara Loewenstein & Hugh Montag & Randal Verbrugge, 2024. "Disentangling Rent Index Differences: Data, Methods, and Scope," American Economic Review: Insights, American Economic Association, vol. 6(2), pages 230-245, June.
    11. Majumder, Amita & Ray, Ranjan & Sinha, Kompal, 2015. "Spatial Comparisons Of Prices And Expenditure In A Heterogeneous Country: Methodology With Application To India," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 19(5), pages 931-989, July.
    12. Caitlin Blair, 2013. "Constructing a PCE-Weighted Consumer Price Index," NBER Working Papers 19582, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Hai Long Vo & Duc Hong Vo, 2023. "The purchasing power parity and exchange‐rate economics half a century on," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(2), pages 446-479, April.
    14. Borusyak, Kirill & Jaravel, Xavier, 2024. "Are trade wars class wars? The importance of trade-induced horizontal inequality," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    15. Filho, Irineu de Carvalho & Chamon, Marcos, 2012. "The myth of post-reform income stagnation: Evidence from Brazil and Mexico," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(2), pages 368-386.
    16. Lieu, Pang-Tien & Liang, Jung-Hui & Chen, Jui-Hui, 2008. "Consumer preferences and cost of living in Taiwan," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 224-235, June.
    17. Kirill Borusyak & Xavier Jaravel, 2018. "The Distributional Effects of Trade: Theory and Evidence from the United States," 2018 Meeting Papers 284, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    18. Menggen Chen & Yan Wang & D. S. Prasada Rao, 2020. "Measuring the spatial price differences in China with regional price parity methods," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(4), pages 1103-1146, April.
    19. Christian Broda & Ephraim Leibtag & David E. Weinstein, 2009. "The Role of Prices in Measuring the Poor's Living Standards," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 23(2), pages 77-97, Spring.
    20. Caitlin Blair, 2014. "Constructing a PCE-Weighted Consumer Price Index," NBER Chapters, in: Improving the Measurement of Consumer Expenditures, pages 53-74, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:revinw:v:70:y:2024:i:1:p:60-79. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iariwea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.