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The apples and oranges theorem for price indices

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  • van Veelen, Matthijs

Abstract

The question is whether or not there is a generally meaningful way to compute price indices. I explore the duality between price and quantity indices, and present an impossibility result that is analogous to the one for quantity indices.

Suggested Citation

  • van Veelen, Matthijs, 2009. "The apples and oranges theorem for price indices," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 103(1), pages 12-14, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:103:y:2009:i:1:p:12-14
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Samuelson, Paul A & Swamy, S, 1974. "Invariant Economic Index Numbers and Canonical Duality: Survey and Synthesis," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 64(4), pages 566-593, September.
    2. Hal R. Varian, 1983. "Non-parametric Tests of Consumer Behaviour," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 50(1), pages 99-110.
    3. John Quiggin & Matthijs Van Veelen, 2007. "Multilateral Indices: Conflicting Approaches?," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 53(2), pages 372-378, June.
    4. Dowrick, Steve & Quiggin, John, 1997. "True Measures of GDP and Convergence," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 87(1), pages 41-64, March.
    5. Diewert, W. E., 1976. "Exact and superlative index numbers," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 4(2), pages 115-145, May.
    6. Matthijs van Veelen & Roy van der Weide, 2008. "A Note on Different Approaches to Index Number Theory," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(4), pages 1722-1730, September.
    7. Matthijs van Veelen, 2002. "An Impossibility Theorem Concerning Multilateral International Comparison of Volumes," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 70(1), pages 369-375, January.
    8. J. Peter Neary, 2004. "Rationalizing the Penn World Table: True Multilateral Indices for International Comparisons of Real Income," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(5), pages 1411-1428, December.
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    Cited by:

    1. Antonio Peyrache, 2013. "Multilateral productivity comparisons and homotheticity," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 40(1), pages 57-65, August.

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