IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/pra/mprapa/113174.html

Accounting for variety

Author

Listed:
  • Winkler, Julian

Abstract

I introduce a general method to account for the distribution of underlying components (variety) of an aggregate quantity, using the notion of entropy. This accounting decomposition enables a number of insightful applications for index numbers in economics. The cross-entropy of GDP with respect to a benchmark captures the change in its distribution, and thus how well this benchmark matches data for price and volume indices across time. This 'error' changes demonstrably over time. Accounting of variety also lends itself to an decomposition of labour productivity growth by a technology component (how many more `average' goods are produced per unit of labor?), an allocation component (does the distribution of labor inputs converge to the distribution of outputs?), and cost disease (does the distribution of expenditures diverge from the distribution of outputs?).

Suggested Citation

  • Winkler, Julian, 2022. "Accounting for variety," MPRA Paper 113174, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:113174
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/113174/1/MPRA_paper_113174.pdf
    File Function: original version
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/116038/8/MPRA_paper_116038.pdf
    File Function: revised version
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/116038/1/MPRA_paper_113174.pdf
    File Function: revised version
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/116455/1/MPRA_paper_116455.pdf
    File Function: revised version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Philippe Aghion & Antonin Bergeaud & Timo Boppart & Peter J. Klenow & Huiyu Li, 2019. "Missing Growth from Creative Destruction," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 109(8), pages 2795-2822, August.
    2. Jianmin Tang & Weimin Wang, 2004. "Sources of aggregate labour productivity growth in Canada and the United States," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 37(2), pages 421-444, May.
    3. David R Baqaee & Ariel Burstein, 2023. "Welfare and Output With Income Effects and Taste Shocks," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 138(2), pages 769-834.
    4. Aghion, Philippe & Howitt, Peter, 1992. "A Model of Growth through Creative Destruction," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 60(2), pages 323-351, March.
    5. Diewert, W. E., 1976. "Exact and superlative index numbers," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 4(2), pages 115-145, May.
    6. Sato, Kazuo, 1976. "The Ideal Log-Change Index Number," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 58(2), pages 223-228, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Christian Broda & David E. Weinstein, 2006. "Globalization and the Gains From Variety," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 121(2), pages 541-585.
    2. d'Artis, Kancs & Persyn, Damiaan, 2010. "Variety Gains from Trade Integration in Europe," Conference papers 332032, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.
    3. 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.
    4. Adam Gorajek, 2024. "Generalizing the Stochastic Approach to Price Indexes," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 70(1), pages 80-101, March.
    5. Magnus Henrekson & Dan Johansson & Johan Karlsson, 2024. "To Be or Not to Be: The Entrepreneur in Neo-Schumpeterian Growth Theory," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 48(1), pages 104-140, January.
    6. Rahel Braun & Sarah M. Lein, 2021. "Sources of Bias in Inflation Rates and Implications for Inflation Dynamics," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 53(6), pages 1553-1572, September.
    7. Jacek Białek & Natalia Pawelec & Sylwia Roszkowska, 2024. "Estimating the elasticity of substitution when compiling the CES cost of living index on scanner data," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 58(6), pages 5997-6021, December.
    8. Stephen J. Redding & David E. Weinstein, 2016. "A unified approach to estimating demand and welfare," CEP Discussion Papers dp1445, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    9. Wulong Gu & Michael Willox, 2018. "Productivity Growth in Canada and the United States: Recent Industry Trends and Potential Explanations," International Productivity Monitor, Centre for the Study of Living Standards, vol. 35, pages 73-94, Fall.
    10. Naohito ABE & INAKURA Noriko & Akiyuki TONOGI, 2016. "Estimation of Aggregate Demand and Supply Shocks Using Commodity Transaction Data," Discussion papers 16040, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    11. Lukas Mohler & Michael Seitz, 2012. "The gains from variety in the European Union," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 148(3), pages 475-500, September.
    12. Massimo Del Gatto & Adriana Di Liberto & Carmelo Petraglia, 2011. "Measuring Productivity," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(5), pages 952-1008, December.
    13. Robert C. Feenstra & Benjamin R. Mandel & Marshall B. Reinsdorf & Matthew J. Slaughter, 2013. "Effects of Terms of Trade Gains and Tariff Changes on the Measurement of US Productivity Growth," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 5(1), pages 59-93, February.
    14. Charles R. Hulten, 2009. "Growth Accounting," NBER Working Papers 15341, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Thomas von Brasch & Arvid Raknerud & Diana-Cristina Iancu, 2018. "Productivity growth, firm turnover and new varieties," Economic Statistics Centre of Excellence (ESCoE) Discussion Papers ESCoE DP-2018-11, Economic Statistics Centre of Excellence (ESCoE).
    16. Thomas von Brasch & Ådne Cappelen & Diana-Cristina Iancu, 2015. "Understanding the productivity slowdown. The importance of entry and exit of workers," Discussion Papers 818, Statistics Norway, Research Department.
    17. Diewert, Erwin, 2019. "Quality Adjustment and Hedonics: A Unified Approach," Microeconomics.ca working papers erwin_diewert-2019-2, Vancouver School of Economics, revised 14 Mar 2019.
    18. Hulten, Charles R., 2010. "Growth Accounting," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, in: Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 987-1031, Elsevier.
    19. Ian Goldin & Pantelis Koutroumpis & François Lafond & Julian Winkler, 2024. "Why Is Productivity Slowing Down?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 62(1), pages 196-268, March.
    20. John S. Greenlees & Elliot Williams, 2009. "Reconsideration of Weighting and Updating Procedures in the US CPI," Working Papers 431, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • E01 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General - - - Measurement and Data on National Income and Product Accounts and Wealth; Environmental Accounts
    • O47 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Empirical Studies of Economic Growth; Aggregate Productivity; Cross-Country Output Convergence

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:pra:mprapa:113174. 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: Joachim Winter (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vfmunde.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.