In early 2003, the OECD released a major report entitled The Sources of Growth in OECD Countries. In the seventh and final article, Martin Neil Baily from the Institute for International Economics, and former Chairman of the U.S. Council of Economic Advisers reviews the report. Baily notes that...

The author supports the type of the back-of-the-envelope calculations of CPI bias that the Commission used so effectively to attract public attention to its report. In the area of quality adjustment, however, he criticizes the Boskin Commission for what he calls “premature extrapolation,”...

The author summarizes the report’s methods, findings, and recommendations, and then reviews the comments and criticisms that appeared soon after the report was issued. Changes in CPI methodology are also summarized and assessed, as is recent research on related issues. Based on recent...