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Consumers' Opinion of Inflation Bias Due to Quality Improvements

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Author Info
Hanousek, Jan
Filer, Randall K

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Abstract

Measurement of quality changes has proven to be an especially difficult aspect of calculating unbiased rates of inflation. We propose a new methodology of capturing quality improvements based on consumer focus groups and apply this methodology in an environment where quality changes might be expected to be especially rapid and extensive, a post-Communist transition economy. We find that the methodology indicates a substantial understatement of quality improvements during transition, and, therefore, a substantial overstatement of inflation, resulting in a serious downward bias in growth rate estimates for post-Communist economies. The move to free markets has apparently improved consumers' welfare more by improving what they can purchase than by increasing how much they can purchase. Overall, mismeasurement of quality changes may have understated Czech growth rates during the first decade after Communism by as much as 5 percentage points per year.

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Publisher Info
Article provided by University of Chicago Press in its journal Economic Development and Cultural Change.

Volume (Year): 53 (2004)
Issue (Month): 1 (October)
Pages: 235-54
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Handle: RePEc:ucp:ecdecc:y:2004:v:53:i:1:p:235-54

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References listed on IDEAS
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. Feenstra, R.C., 1995. "Exact Hedonic Price Indexes," Department of Economics 95-11, California Davis - Department of Economics.
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  2. Kaplowitz, Michael D. & Hoehn, John P., 2001. "Do focus groups and individual interviews reveal the same information for natural resource valuation?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 237-247, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Shogren, Jason F. & Seung Y. Shin & Dermot J. Hayes & James B. Kliebenstein, 1994. "Resolving Differences in Willingness to Pay and Willingness to Accept," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(1), pages 255-70, March.
  4. Nick Hanley & Gary Koop & Begoña Álvarez-Farizo & Robert E. Wright & Ceara Nevin, 2001. "Go climb a mountain: an application of recreation demand modelling to rock climbing in Scotland," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 52(1), pages 36-52. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Diewert, W.E., 1996. "Comment on CPI Biases," UBC Departmental Archives 96-07, UBC Department of Economics.
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  6. Mark Bils & Peter J. Klenow, 2001. "Quantifying Quality Growth," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(4), pages 1006-1030, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  7. Kontogianni, Areti & Skourtos, Mihalis S. & Langford, Ian H. & Bateman, Ian J. & Georgiou, Stavros, 2001. "Integrating stakeholder analysis in non-market valuation of environmental assets," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 123-138, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Charles R. Hulten, 1997. "Quality change in the CPI," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, issue May, pages 87-100. [Downloadable!]
  9. Jan Hanousek & Randall K. Filer, 2001. "Survey-based Estimates of Biases in Consumer Price Indices During Transition: Evidence from Romania," CERGE-EI Working Papers wp178, The Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education - Economic Institute, Prague. [Downloadable!]
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  10. Kolstad, Charles D. & Guzman, Rolando M., 1999. "Information and the Divergence between Willingness to Accept and Willingness to Pay," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 66-80, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  11. Boskin, Michael J, et al, 1998. "Consumer Prices, the Consumer Price Index, and the Cost of Living," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 12(1), pages 3-26, Winter. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Paul A. Armknecht & Fenella Maitland-Smith, 1999. "Price Imputation and Other Techniques for Dealing with Missing Observations, Seasonality and Quality Change in Price Indices," IMF Working Papers 99/78, International Monetary Fund.
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Cited by:
(explanations, 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. Jan Bruha & Jiri Podpiera & Stanislav Polak, 2007. "The Convergence of a Transition Economy: The Case of the Czech Republic," Working Papers 2007/3, Czech National Bank, Research Department. [Downloadable!]
  2. Jan Bruha & Jiri Podpiera & Stanislav Polak, 2007. "The Convergence Dynamics of a Transition Economy: The Case of the Czech Republic," IMF Working Papers 07/116, International Monetary Fund. [Downloadable!]
  3. Ashoka Mody & Franziska Ohnsorge, 2007. "Can Domestic Policies Influence Inflation?," IMF Working Papers 07/257, International Monetary Fund. [Downloadable!]
  4. Jan Bruha & Jirí Podpiera, 2007. "Transition economy convergence in a two-country model - implications for monetary integration," Working Paper Series 740, European Central Bank. [Downloadable!]
  5. Babecký, Jan & Coricelli, Fabrizio & Horváth, Roman, 2009. "Assessing Inflation Persistence: Micro Evidence on an Inflation Targeting Economy," CEPR Discussion Papers 7268, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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