This study tests the theory of rationing, examining changes in household consumption behavior during the transition to a market economy in Poland, 1987–92. A model of consumption under rationing is developed and fitted to prereform quarterly data from the Polish Household Budget Survey. Virtual...

The costs of shortages and rationing are not captured by standard consumer price indices. Thus the change in real GDP per capita is an overestimate of welfare losses in transition economics. In this study virtual prices are used to calculate new cost-of-living indices (CLIs). The results for...

This study tests the theory of rationing, examining changes in household consumption behavior during the transition to a market economy in Poland, 1987-92. Using pre-reform data from the Polish Household Budget Survey, Huffman and Johnson develop a model of consumption under rationing and derive...

The costs of shortages and rationing are not captured by standard consumer price indices. Thus the change in real gross domestic product (GDP) per capita is an overestimate of welfare losses in transition economies. In this study the authors use virtual prices to calculate new cost-of-living...