The Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) is the single most important indicator of inflation used by the European Central Bank. Sections 2 to 4 of the paper look at the theory of inflation indexes that could be used as target indexes of inflation. A Consumer Price Index (CPI) emerges as...

The paper studies the problems associated with the construction of price indexes for commercial properties that could be used in the System of National Accounts. Property price indexes are required for the stocks of commercial properties in the Balance Sheets of the country and related price...

There are four main approaches to bilateral index number theory: the fixed basket, stochastic, test and economic approaches. The paper reviews the contributions of Irving Fisher to these approaches to index number theory which are still in use today. The paper also reviews Fisher’s...

The paper considers some of the problems associated with the indirectly measured components of financial service outputs in the System of National Accounts (SNA), termed FISIM (Financial Intermediation Services Indirectly Measured). The paper utilizes a user cost and supplier benefit approach to...

The paper explains part of the methodology that was used in the 2005 International Comparison Program (ICP) that compared the relative price levels and GDP levels across 146 countries and 5 regions. Each of the regions constructed its own set of Purchasing Power Parities (PPPs) and relative...

The paper explains part of the methodology that was used in the 2005 International Comparison Program (ICP) that compared the relative price levels and GDP levels across 146 countries and 5 regions. This paper looks at the methodology which was used in order to calculate relative volumes and...

Indexes often incorporate various biases due to their methods of construction. The Constant Elasticity of Substitution (CES) index can potentially eliminate substitution bias without needing current period expenditure data. The CES index requires an elasticity parameter. We derive a system of...

The paper studies the problems associated with the construction of price indexes for commercial properties that could be used in the System of National Accounts. Property price indexes are required for the stocks of commercial properties in the Balance Sheets of the country and related price...

The paper uses hedonic regression techniques in order to decompose the price of a house into land and structure components using real estate sales data for Tokyo. In order to get sensible results, a nonlinear regression model using data that covered multiple time periods was used. Collinearity...

The 2008 version of the SNA has recommended capitalization of R&D expenditures. To implement this recommendation, we need to determine the depreciation rate of R&D capital. In this paper, we develop a simple model, based on a production function method that allows for monopolistic competition,...