Inflation is currently low and falling in the OECD area. A side effect of these facts is that they made harder the task of price index compilers. First of all, researchers and analysts are moving their attention from aggregate price dynamics to price differentials (among products, markets,...

Quality adjustment of price indexes affects the analysis of many sensitive economic issues, such as real growth, productivity, international competitiveness, real wages, per-capita consumption and poverty, other than inflation. Hedonic methods are often recommended and increasingly used in the...

This paper assesses the performance of the core inflation measures calculated by the Brazilian Central Bank (BCB). The evidence shows that they do not meet some key statistical criteria that a good core inflation should have: unbiasedness and the ability to forecast inflation. That performance...

This study deals with the problem of measuring the real exchange rate (RER). We consider four aspects of this measurement problem: (a) Using end- of- period or period averages of the nominal exchange rate. (b) Choosing price indexes. (c) In obtaining the real effective exchange rates (REER),...

This study deals with the problem of measuring the real exchange rate (RER). We consider four aspects of this measurement problem: (a) Using end- of- period or period averages of the nominal exchange rate. (b) Choosing price indexes. (c) In obtaining the real effective exchange rates (REER),...

The note examines a generalization of a theorem of Bortkiewicz which relates the difference between a Paasche and a Laspeyres price index to a covariance between price and quantity relatives. The generalized theorem is used to demonstrate a number of interesting special applications. It turns...

This document analyzes different measures of international inflation and their influence on the domestic inflation. We found that these measurements have a statistical significant effect on the behavior of domestic inflation. Therefore the evolution of the international inflation must be...

This paper uses the gap between the level of an economy’s well-being and that of a people’s well-being as a measure of the overall economic ill-being in a society. In particular, it argues that such disparity is measurable using objective measures of and subjective measures for inflation and...

This study deals with the problem of measuring the real exchange rate (RER). We consider four aspects of this measurement problem: (a) Using end-of-period or period averages of the nominal exchange rate. (b) Choosing price indexes. (c) In obtaining the real effective exchange rates (REER),...

The paper criticizes the translation of the so called GEKS (Gini - Eltetö - Köves - Szulc) method to make consistent (transitive, or "drift free") international comparisons of price indices (parities), into the intertemporal framework. It shows that transitivity appears to be "over-ambitious"...