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Rationalizing the Penn World Table: True Multilateral Indices for International Comparisons of Real Income

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J. Peter Neary

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Abstract

Real incomes are routinely compared internationally using methods that "correct" for deviations from purchasing power parity. The most widely used of these is the Geary method which, though theoretically suspect, underlies the Penn World Table. This paper provides a theoretical foundation for the Geary method which I call the GAIA ( "Geary-Allen International Accounts" ) system. I show that the Geary method is exact when preferences are non-homothetic Leontief and, more generally, gives a ( possibly poor ) approximation to the GAIA benchmark. An empirical application suggests that both it and other widely used methods underestimate the degree of international inequality.

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Article provided by American Economic Association in its journal American Economic Review.

Volume (Year): 94 (2004)
Issue (Month): 5 (December)
Pages: 1411-1428
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Handle: RePEc:aea:aecrev:v:94:y:2004:i:5:p:1411-1428

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Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  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 566-93, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Hill, Robert J, 1997. "A Taxonomy of Multilateral Methods for Making International Comparisons of Prices and Quantities," Review of Income and Wealth, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 43(1), pages 49-69, March.
  3. Neary, J-P & Gleeson, B, 1997. "Comparing the Wealth of Nations : Reference Prices and Multilateral Real Income Indexes," Papers 97/19, College Dublin, Department of Political Economy-.
  4. Summers, Robert & Heston, Alan, 1991. "The Penn World Table (Mark 5): An Expanded Set of International Comparisons, 1950-1988," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 106(2), pages 327-68, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Dowrick, Steve & Dunlop, Yvonne & Quiggin, John, 2003. "Social indicators and comparisons of living standards," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(2), pages 501-529, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Diewert, W. E. & Wales, T. J., 1988. "A normalized quadratic semiflexible functional form," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 327-342, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Richard W. Blundell & Martin Browning & Ian A. Crawford, 2003. "Nonparametric Engel Curves and Revealed Preference," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 71(1), pages 205-240, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  8. Nuxoll, Daniel A, 1994. "Differences in Relative Prices and International Differences in Growth Rates," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(5), pages 1423-36, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Deaton, Angus S & Muellbauer, John, 1980. "An Almost Ideal Demand System," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 70(3), pages 312-26, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Sala-i-Martin, Xavier, 1997. "I Just Ran Two Million Regressions," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 87(2), pages 178-83, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Diewert, W. E., 1976. "Exact and superlative index numbers," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 4(2), pages 115-145, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. James Banks & Richard Blundell & Arthur Lewbel, 1997. "Quadratic Engel Curves And Consumer Demand," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 79(4), pages 527-539, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. Dowrick, Steve & Quiggin, John, 1997. "True Measures of GDP and Convergence," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 87(1), pages 41-64, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  14. Heston, Alan & Summers, Robert, 1996. "International Price and Quantity Comparisons: Potentials and Pitfalls," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(2), pages 20-24, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  15. Muellbauer, John, 1975. "Aggregation, Income Distribution and Consumer Demand," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 42(4), pages 525-43, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  16. Kravis, Irving B, 1984. "Comparative Studies of National Incomes and Prices," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 22(1), pages 1-39, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  17. Caves, Douglas W & Christensen, Laurits R & Diewert, W Erwin, 1982. "Multilateral Comparisons of Output, Input, and Productivity Using Superlative Index Numbers," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 92(365), pages 73-86, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  1. Rolf Aaberge, Audun Langørgen, Magne Mogstad and MaritØstensen, 2008. "The Impact of Local Public Services and Geographical Cost of Living Differences on Poverty Estimates," Discussion Papers 551, Research Department of Statistics Norway. [Downloadable!]
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  2. Antonio Ciccone & Marek Jarocinski, 2007. "Determinants of Economic Growth: Will Data Tell?," Economics Working Papers 1052, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, revised Sep 2009. [Downloadable!]
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  3. James B. Davies & Susanna Sandstrom & David Laidler & David Laidler, 2009. "The Level and Distribution of Global Household Wealth," University of Western Ontario, RBC Financial Group Economic Policy Research Institute Working Papers 20091, University of Western Ontario, RBC Financial Group Economic Policy Research Institute. [Downloadable!]
  4. Raimondos-Møller, Pascalis & Woodland, Alan D., 2006. "Measuring Tax Efficiency," Working Papers 05-2004, Copenhagen Business School, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  5. Pascalis Raimondos-Møller & Alan D. Woodland, 2004. "Measuring Tax Efficiency: A Tax Optimality Index," EPRU Working Paper Series 04-08, Economic Policy Research Unit (EPRU), University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
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  6. J. Peter Neary, 2006. "Measuring Competitiveness," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 37(2), pages 197-213. [Downloadable!]
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  7. Robert J. Hill & T. Peter Hill, 2007. "Regionalization and its Implications for Price Index Construction: The Case of the International Comparisons Program," Discussion Papers 2007-28, School of Economics, The University of New South Wales. [Downloadable!]
  8. Charles Kenny, 2009. "There's more to life than money: Exploring the levels|growth paradox in income and health," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 21(1), pages 24-41. [Downloadable!]
  9. Magne Mogstad, 2007. "Measuring Income Inequality under Restricted Interpersonal Comparability," Discussion Papers 498, Research Department of Statistics Norway. [Downloadable!]
  10. Angus Deaton & Alan Heston, 2008. "Understanding PPPs and PPP-based national accounts," NBER Working Papers 14499, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  11. Soete, Luc & Freeman, Chris, 2007. "Developing science, technology and innovation indicators: what we can learn from the past," UNU-MERIT Working Paper Series 001, United Nations University, Maastricht Economic and social Research and training centre on Innovation and Technology. [Downloadable!]
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