In this paper, we first comment on the recent (1996) report of the Advisory Commission to Study the Consumer Price Index, appointed by the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, and the recommendations it contains. We then describe some of the initiatives currently underway at the Bureau of Labor...

We define a class of bias problems that arise when purchasers shift their expenditures among sellers charging different prices for units of precisely defined and interchangeable product items that are nevertheless regarded as different for the purposes of price measurement. For...