Introduction of new products into the market place poses a difficult problem for the calculation of a cost-of-living (COL) index. The problem is that the reservation prices of new products in the periods before their introduction are unobservable. This paper introduces a new index number formula...

In this paper, we measure and analyse profit efficiency and productivity of Vietnamese banks using a newly developed index approach which is based on the directional distance function. Our findings indicate that the average bank operates quite far below the frontier of the best-practice bank,...

The present paper estimates upper-level substitution and new-goods bias in the Korean Consumer Price Index (CPI). It has been estimated that the upper-level substitution bias in the CPI alone increased the inflation rate by 0.51 percentage points per year over the thirteen-year period between...

We used Data Envelopment Analysis to evaluate cost efficiency of Australian banks in producing banking services and profit between 1995 and 2002. Empirical results indicate the major banks have improved their efficiency in producing banking services and profit, while the regional banks have...

This paper investigates to what extent the wealth accumulation of immigrants is explained by their degree of assimilation, defined as the immigrants' capacity to become more similar over time to the local people in terms of their norms, values, behaviours, and socioeconomic characteristics. The...

This paper estimates the returns to education of rural-urban migrants during the period of transition of China's economy between 1995 and 2008. Using data from CHIP and RUMiC, we find that rural migrants' earning differentials with urban residents are substantial and mainly depend on the type of...