Scanner Data and Price Indexes

Scanner Data and Price Indexes
Author: Robert C. Feenstra
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 404
Release: 2007-11-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0226239667

Every time you buy a can of tuna or a new television, its bar code is scanned to record its price and other information. These "scanner data" offer a number of attractive features for economists and statisticians, because they are collected continuously, are available quickly, and record prices for all items sold, not just a statistical sample. But scanner data also present a number of difficulties for current statistical systems. Scanner Data and Price Indexes assesses both the promise and the challenges of using scanner data to produce economic statistics. Three papers present the results of work in progress at statistical agencies in the U.S., United Kingdom, and Canada, including a project at the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics to investigate the feasibility of incorporating scanner data into the monthly Consumer Price Index. Other papers demonstrate the enormous potential of using scanner data to test economic theories and estimate the parameters of economic models, and provide solutions for some of the problems that arise when using scanner data, such as dealing with missing data.

Consumer Price Index Manual

Consumer Price Index Manual
Author: International Labour Office
Publisher: International Labour Organization
Total Pages: 578
Release: 2004-08-25
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9789221136996

The consumer price index (CPI) measures the rate at which prices of consumer goods and services change over time. It is used as a key indicator of economic performance, as well as in the setting of monetary and socio-economic policy such as indexation of wages and social security benefits, purchasing power parities and inflation measures. This manual contains methodological guidelines for statistical offices and other agencies responsible for constructing and calculating CPIs, and also examines underlying economic and statistical concepts involved. Topics covered include: expenditure weights, sampling, price collection, quality adjustment, sampling, price indices calculations, errors and bias, organisation and management, dissemination, index number theory, durables and user costs.

Modernizing the Consumer Price Index for the 21st Century

Modernizing the Consumer Price Index for the 21st Century
Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2022
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780309286985

The Consumer Price Index (CPI), produced by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), is the most widely used measure of inflation in the U.S. It is used to determine cost-of-living allowances and, among many other important private- and public-sector applications, influences monetary policy. The CPI has traditionally relied on field-generated data, such as prices observed in person at grocery stores or retailers. However, as these data have become more challenging and expensive to collect in a way that reflects an increasingly dynamic marketplace, statistical agencies and researchers have begun turning to opportunities created by the vast digital sources of consumer price data that have emerged. The enormous economic disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic, including major shifts in consumers' shopping patterns, presents a perfect case study for the need to rapidly employ new data sources for the CPI. Modernizing the Consumer Price Index presents guidance to BLS as the agency embarks on a strategy of accelerating and enhancing the use of scanner, web-scraped, and digital data directly from retailers in compiling the CPI. The report also recommends strategies for BLS to more accurately estimate the composition of households' expenditures - or market basket shares - by updating this information more frequently and using innovative survey techniques and alternative data sources where possible. The report provides targeted guidance for integrating new data sources to improve the CPI's estimation of changes in the prices of housing and medical care, two consumer expenditure categories that are traditionally difficult to measure. Because of the urgency of issues related to income and wealth inequality, the report also recommends that BLS identify data sources that would allow it to estimate price indexes defined by income quintile or decile.

Generalized Fisher Price Indexes and the Use of Scanner Data in the CPI

Generalized Fisher Price Indexes and the Use of Scanner Data in the CPI
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages: 29
Release: 2001
Genre:
ISBN:

Statistics Netherlands intends to use scanner data provided by retailers in compiling the CPI. This has two important advantages. First, taking a sample of items to estimate the commodity group price index for a particular type of outlet becomes unnecessary. Second, the Laspeyres-type index formula currently applied can be replaced by an index formula that is better suited for handling dynamic aspects such as commodity substitution and the introduction of new goods. The present paper suggests the use of a so-called generalized Fisher price index, based on a set of goods that is variable through time. This index contains prices of new and disappearing goods that cannot be observed directly and that should therefore be imputed. The relation with quality adjustment procedures is addressed as well. Key words: Consumer price index ; Imputation ; New goods ; Quality adjustment ; Scanner data ; Substitution.

At What Price?

At What Price?
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 348
Release: 2002-02-25
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0309170796

How well does the consumer price index (CPI) reflect the changes that people actually face in living costsâ€"from apples to computers to health care? Given how it is used, is it desirable to construct the CPI as a cost-of-living index (COLI)? With what level of accuracy is it possible to construct a single index that represents changes in the living costs of the nation's diverse population? At What Price? examines the foundations for consumer price indexes, comparing the conceptual and practical strengths, weaknesses, and limitations of traditional "fixed basket" and COLI approaches. The book delves into a range of complex issues, from how to deal with the changing quality of goods and services, including difficult-to-define medical services, to how to weight the expenditure patterns of different consumers. It sorts through the key attributes and underlying assumptions that define each index type in order to answer the question: Should a COLI framework be used in constructing the U.S. CPI? In answering this question, the book makes recommendations as to how the Bureau of Labor Statistics can continue to improve the accuracy and relevance of the CPI. With conclusions that could affect the amount of your next pay raise, At What Price? is important to everyone, and a must-read for policy makers, researchers, and employers.

Price Index Concepts and Measurement

Price Index Concepts and Measurement
Author: W. Erwin Diewert
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 531
Release: 2010-02-15
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0226148572

Although inflation is much feared for its negative effects on the economy, how to measure it is a matter of considerable debate that has important implications for interest rates, monetary supply, and investment and spending decisions. Underlying many of these issues is the concept of the Cost-of-Living Index (COLI) and its controversial role as the methodological foundation for the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Price Index Concepts and Measurements brings together leading experts to address the many questions involved in conceptualizing and measuring inflation. They evaluate the accuracy of COLI, a Cost-of-Goods Index, and a variety of other methodological frameworks as the bases for consumer price construction.

The Availability, Methodological Soundness, and Scope of Consumer Price Statistics in 2020

The Availability, Methodological Soundness, and Scope of Consumer Price Statistics in 2020
Author: Vanda Guerreiro
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 22
Release: 2022-03-18
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN:

This paper analyzes the availability, methodological soundness, and scope of Consumer Price statistics in IMF member and non-member countries in 2020. Consumer price statistics are instrumental in the development of monetary policy and in monitoring economic developments. They also often have administrative uses such as in determine wage increase or seting pension payments. This analysis examines the appropriateness of the current set of global consumer price statistics for current policy development and highlights regions where further development may be required. The analysis is based on the results of a new annual survey of CPI compilation practices in 207 economies as of the end of 2020. The survey was completed by statistical authorities between March 2021 and June 2021. In cases of non-response, IMF staff estimates were used. IMF Staff estimates were based on information taken from the IMF’s Dissemination Standards Bulletin Board (DSBB) and country websites to provide the status of consumer price index compilation practices. These data summarize the following key aspects; i) Production, publication and scope of the Consumer Price Index Program, ii) Data sources, iii) CPI compilation methods and iv) Concepts and classifications.