IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/fip/fedder/y1994iqiip1-22.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The consumer price index

Author

Listed:
  • Fiona Sigalla
  • Mark A. Wynne

Abstract

The consumer price index (CPI) is probably the most closely watched indicator of inflation in the U.S. economy. In this article, Mark Wynne and Fiona Sigalla explain the construction of the CPI and evaluate some of its potential shortcomings as a measure of inflation. Specifically, they examine the discrepancies that arise between the CPI and the true cost- of-living index as a result of improvements in the quality of goods, the introduction of new goods, substitution on the part of consumers between different goods and retail outlets, and the difficulty of measuring the prices actually paid by consumers for the goods they purchase. ; The authors review the literature that quantifies these discrepancies, with the objective of estimating the magnitude of the overall bias in the CPI. Wynne and Sigalla argue that, in fact, remarkably little is known about the extent or significance of the overall bias in the CPI. They conclude that biases in the CPI cause it to overstate inflation by no more than 1 percent a year, and probably less.

Suggested Citation

  • Fiona Sigalla & Mark A. Wynne, 1994. "The consumer price index," Economic and Financial Policy Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, issue Q II, pages 1-22.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedder:y:1994:i:qii:p:1-22
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.dallasfed.org/~/media/documents/research/er/1994/er9402a.pdf
    File Function: Full Text
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Zvi Griliches, 1992. "Output Measurement in the Service Sectors," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number gril92-1, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. William J. Hawkes & Frank W. Piotrowski, 2003. "Using Scanner Data to Improve the Quality of Measurement in the Consumer Price Index," NBER Chapters, in: Scanner Data and Price Indexes, pages 17-38, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Shiratsuka, Shigenori, 1999. "Measurement Errors in the Japanese Consumer Price Index," Monetary and Economic Studies, Institute for Monetary and Economic Studies, Bank of Japan, vol. 17(3), pages 69-102, December.
    3. Kovács, Ilona, 2003. "A fogyasztói árindex torzító tényezői [Distorting factors in the consumer price index]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(7), pages 702-719.
    4. Todd E. Clark, 1996. "U.S. inflation developments in 1995," Economic Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, vol. 81(Q I), pages 27-42.
    5. Charles Steindel, 1997. "Are there good alternatives to the CPI?," Current Issues in Economics and Finance, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, vol. 3(Apr).
    6. Jan Hanousek & Randall K. Filer, 2003. "Substitution Biases in Price Indexes during Transition," Development and Comp Systems 0306002, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Paul A. Smith, 2021. "Estimating Sampling Errors in Consumer Price Indices," International Statistical Review, International Statistical Institute, vol. 89(3), pages 481-504, December.
    8. Jonathan Tuck & Shane Barratt & Stephen Boyd, 2021. "Portfolio Construction Using Stratified Models," Papers 2101.04113, arXiv.org, revised Feb 2021.
    9. Marshall B. Reinsdorf & Brent R. Moulton, 1996. "The Construction of Basic Components of Cost-of-Living Indexes," NBER Chapters, in: The Economics of New Goods, pages 397-436, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Brent R. Moulton & Karin E. Moses, 1997. "Addressing the Quality Change Issue in the Consumer Price Index," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 28(1), pages 305-366.
    11. Michael J. Dueker & Andreas M. Fischer, 1997. "The FOMC in 1996: \\"watchful waiting\\"," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, issue Jul, pages 7-23.
    12. Jan Hanousek & Randall K. Filer, 2001. "Evaluating Imperfections and Biases in Price Indexes during Transition," CERGE-EI Working Papers wp186, The Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education - Economics Institute, Prague.

    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. Barros, Carlos Pestana & Williams, Jonathan, 2013. "The random parameters stochastic frontier cost function and the effectiveness of public policy: Evidence from bank restructuring in Mexico," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 98-108.
    2. Keh, Hean Tat & Chu, Singfat, 2003. "Retail productivity and scale economies at the firm level: a DEA approach," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 75-82, April.
    3. Williams, Jonathan, 2004. "Determining management behaviour in European banking," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 28(10), pages 2427-2460, October.
    4. Athanasoglou, Panayiotis P. & Georgiou, Evangelia A. & Staikouras, Christos C., 2009. "Assessing output and productivity growth in the banking industry," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 49(4), pages 1317-1340, November.
    5. Pradeep Kautish, 2010. "Study On Impact Of Environmental Change On Selected Public Sector Enterprises In India," Romanian Economic Business Review, Romanian-American University, vol. 5(2), pages 68-88, June.
    6. David Tao,Liang & Harry X,Wu, 2023. "Revisiting the role of ICT in China's growth," IDE Discussion Papers 883, Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization(JETRO).
    7. Claire Giordano, 2023. "Revisiting the real exchange rate misalignment‐economic growth nexus via the across‐sector misallocation channel," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(4), pages 1329-1384, September.
    8. Tarun Jain & Abhiroop Mukhopadhyay & Nishith Prakash & Raghav Rakesh, 2022. "Science education and labor market outcomes in a developing economy," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 60(2), pages 741-763, April.
    9. David M. Cutler & Mark B. McClellan & Joseph P. Newhouse & Dahlia K. Remler, 2001. "Pricing Heart Attack Treatments," NBER Chapters, in: Medical Care Output and Productivity, pages 305-362, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Singh, Nirvikar, 2006. "Services-led industrialization in India: Assessment and lessons," MPRA Paper 1276, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. José Luis Gallizo & Jordi Moreno & Manuel Salvador, 2015. "European banking integration: is foreign ownership affecting banking efficiency?," Journal of Business Economics and Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(2), pages 340-368, April.
    12. Henry van der Wiel, 2001. "Does ICT boost Dutch productivity growth?," CPB Document 16.rdf, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    13. McGuckin, Robert H & Stiroh, Kevin J, 2001. "Do Computers Make Output Harder to Measure?," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 26(4), pages 295-321, October.
    14. M. C. Navarro-Perez & J. M. Serrano-Sanz, 2002. "Evaluating Educational Output: An Estimation Method Based on Cross-Section Data," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(1), pages 71-95.
    15. Davide Consoli & Francesco Vona & Francesco Rentocchini, 2016. "That was then, this is now: skills and routinization in the 2000s," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 25(5), pages 847-866.
    16. Thijs Raa & Edward Wolff, 2001. "Outsourcing of Services and the Productivity Recovery in U.S. Manufacturing in the 1980s and 1990s," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 16(2), pages 149-165, September.
    17. Francesco Daveri & Cecilia Jona-Lasinio, 2005. "Italy's Decline: Getting the Facts Right," Giornale degli Economisti, GDE (Giornale degli Economisti e Annali di Economia), Bocconi University, vol. 64(4), pages 365-410, December.
    18. Susanto Basu & Robert Inklaar & J. Christina Wang, 2011. "The Value Of Risk: Measuring The Service Output Of U.S. Commercial Banks," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 49(1), pages 226-245, January.
    19. Iscan Talan, 2010. "How Much Can Engel's Law and Baumol's Disease Explain the Rise of Service Employment in the United States?," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 10(1), pages 1-43, September.
    20. Timmer, Marcel & Inklaar, Robert, 2005. "Productivity differentials in the U.S. and EU distributive trade sector: statistical myth or reality," GGDC Research Memorandum 200576, Groningen Growth and Development Centre, University of Groningen.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Consumer price indexes; Prices;

    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:fip:fedder:y:1994:i:qii:p:1-22. 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: Amy Chapman (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/frbdaus.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.