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The measurement of retail output and the retail revolution

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  • Leonard I. Nakamura

Abstract

The computerization of retailing has made price dispersion a norm in the United States, so that any given list price or transactions price is an increasingly imperfect measure of a product's resource cost. As a consequence, measuring the real output of retailers has become increasingly difficult. Food retailing is used as a case study to examine data problems in retail productivity measurement. Crude direct measures of grocery store output suggest that the CPI for food-at-home may have been overstated by 1.4 percentage points annually from 1978 to 1996.

Suggested Citation

  • Leonard I. Nakamura, 1997. "The measurement of retail output and the retail revolution," Working Papers 97-4, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedpwp:97-4
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Bliss, Christopher, 1988. "A Theory of Retail Pricing," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(4), pages 375-391, June.
    2. Ellen Dulberger, 1993. "Sources of Price Decline in Computer Processors: Selected Electronic Components," NBER Chapters, in: Price Measurements and Their Uses, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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    Cited by:

    1. C.J. Krizan & John Haltiwanger & Lucia Foster, 2002. "The Link Between Aggregate and Micro Productivity Growth: Evidence from Retail Trade," Working Papers 02-18, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    2. Emek Basker, 2012. "Raising the Barcode Scanner: Technology and Productivity in the Retail Sector," NBER Chapters,in: Standards, Patents and Innovations National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Leonard I. Nakamura, 1998. "The retail revolution and food-price mismeasurement," Business Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, issue May, pages 3-14.
    4. Charles Steindel, 1999. "The impact of reduced inflation estimates on real output and productivity growth," Current Issues in Economics and Finance, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, vol. 5(Jun).
    5. Jonathan Beck & Michal Grajek & Christian Wey, 2005. "Hypermarket Competition and the Diffusion of Retail Checkout Barcode Scanning," CIG Working Papers SP II 2005-19, Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin (WZB), Research Unit: Competition and Innovation (CIG).
    6. Emek Basker, 2012. "Raising the Barcode Scanner: Technology and Productivity in the Retail Sector," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 4(3), pages 1-27, July.
    7. Emmanuel Dhyne & Luis J. Alvarez & Herve Le Bihan & Giovanni Veronese & Daniel Dias & Johannes Hoffmann & Nicole Jonker & Patrick Lunnemann & Fabio Rumler & Jouko Vilmunen, 2006. "Price Changes in the Euro Area and the United States: Some Facts from Individual Consumer Price Data," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 20(2), pages 171-192, Spring.
    8. Leonard I. Nakamura, 2001. "Education and training in an era of creative destruction," Working Papers 00-13, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
    9. Erik Brynjolfsson & Lorin M. Hitt, 2000. "Beyond Computation: Information Technology, Organizational Transformation and Business Performance," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 14(4), pages 23-48, Fall.
    10. Steven J. Davis & Luis Rivera-Batiz, 2005. "The Climate for Business Development and Employment Growth in Puerto Rico," NBER Working Papers 11679, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Emek Basker, 2015. "Change at the Checkout: Tracing the Impact of a Process Innovation," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 63(2), pages 339-370, June.
    12. Nakamura, Alice O. & Nakamura, Emi & Nakamura, Leonard I., 2011. "Price dynamics, retail chains and inflation measurement," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 161(1), pages 47-55, March.
    13. Robert E. Hall & Baruch Lev & Erik Brynjolfsson & Lorin Hitt, 2005. "Remarks," NBER Chapters, in: Measuring Capital in the New Economy, pages 557-576, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Leonard I. Nakamura, 2009. "Intangible assets and national income accounting: measuring a scientific revolution," Working Papers 09-11, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
    15. Leonard I. Nakamura, 2010. "Intangible Assets And National Income Accounting," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 56(s1), pages 135-155, June.
    16. NAKAJIMA Takanobu, 2007. "Is Retail Service Productivity Really Low in Japan? -- Numerical experiment based on Shepard's model --," ESRI Discussion paper series 193, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
    17. Richard B. Freeman & Alice O. Nakamura & Leonard I. Nakamura & Marc Prud’homme & Amanda Pyman, 2011. "Wal‐Mart innovation and productivity: a viewpoint," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 44(2), pages 486-508, May.
    18. Hillen, Judith & Fedoseeva, Svetlana, 2021. "E-commerce and the end of price rigidity?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 63-73.

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