Every time you buy a can of tuna or a new television, its bar code is scanned to record its price and other information. These "scanner data" offer a number of attractive features for economists and statisticians, because they are collected continuously, are available quickly, and record prices...

Although inflation is much feared for its negative effects on the economy, how to measure it is a matter of considerable debate that has important implications for interest rates, monetary supply, and investment and spending decisions. Underlying many of these issues is the concept of the...

The COVID-19 crisis had a major impact on the measurement of inflation around the world, as price observation in shops became impossible and some markets completely closed down. This article looks at the measures taken during the crisis in 2020 to ensure the continued compilation of the European...

The HICP is a consumer price index which was designed to provide measures of inflation in EU member states calculated using similar methods and thus comparable one with another. The HICP now tracks the inflation rates covering over 500 million Europeans, including the UK, and is also produced by...

1. Background to the HICP -- 2. First Meeting of the HICP Working Party -- 3. Guiding Principles: Framework Regulation -- 4.Interim Indices of Consumer Prices (IICP) -- 5.Launch of the HICP -- 6.Classification of Household Consumption Expenditure -- 7.Coverage of the HICP: What, Where, Who? --...