Traditional approaches to consumer demand modelling ignores the problem associated with product heterogeneity where important product characteristics are latent. The point of departure in the present study is a particular framework developed in Dagsvik (1996a,b) and Dagsvik et al. (1998). In...

This paper discusses a particular approach to empirical consumer demand modelling when products are differentiated and the product attributes are unobservable. In contrast to the traditional approach to this problem, see e.g. Epple (1987) and Deaton (1987, 1988), where the product variants are...

The paper presents a method for computing the curvature implicit in the use of superlative price indices. It extends the quadratic lemma and allows us to compute the elasticity of substitution of the underlying preferences in the direction of the observed price change for the Törnqvist and the...

The paper uses elementary consumer theory to propose an inflation independent ratio definition of the substitution bias of the Laspeyres consumer price index, and derives an approximate substitution bias which depends on the size of the price change as measured by a norm in the Laspeyres plane...

The question of whether the housing market is efficient or not is posed by an increasing number of economists, policymakers, current homeowners and prospective homebuyers. This article tests the efficiency hypothesis on data from the Norwegian housing market in its capital, Oslo. We employ the...

Estimation of standard errors of Engel elasticities within the framework of a linear structural model formulated on two-wave panel data is considered. The complete demand system is characterized by measurement errors in total expenditure and by latent preference variation. The estimation of the...

Taxes on housing consumption have attractive features. They can enhance overall efficiency, function as automatic stabilizers, and work progressively. Implementation, however, requires a careful balance between economic ambition and political reality. This article suggests a 5-stage procedure:...

Consumers often face choice settings in which alternatives are discrete. Examples include choices between variants of differentiated products, modes of urban transportation, residential locations, etc. In this paper compensated price elasticities and a corresponding(aggregate) Slutsky equation...

The Human Development Index (HDI) published in the Human Development Report (HDR) of the United Nations Development Program is calculated as a simple average of the Life Expectancy Index (LEI), the Education Index (EI) and the Gross Domestic Product Index (GDPI). This paper provides statistical...

In this paper, we compare Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Partial Least Squares (PLS) methods to generate weights for composite indices. In this context we also consider various treatments of non-metric variables when constructing such composite indices. Using simulation studies we find...