We develop a new approach to measuring the cost of living for constant elasticity of substitution (CES) preferences. Our approach allows for demand shocks for individual goods (to rationalize micro data) while preserving a money-metric expenditure function (to compare the cost of living over...

Inflation measurement is the process through which changes in the prices of individual goods and services are combined to yield a measure of general price change. This paper discusses the conceptual framework for thinking about inflation measurement and considers practical issues associated with...

In the last 20 years, the expenditure share of prepackaged software in the national output has grown. The large number of characteristics in computer software make hedonic regression techniques impractical for purposes of controlling for quality changes. In this study, matched model price...

I construct the first price index for any region of Canada that spans from the colonial era to the mid-nineteenth century. I use prices collected from the account books of religious congregations with estates throughout the modern-day province of Quebec. The consistency of the type of price...

The use of multilateral indexes is increasingly an accepted approach for incorporating scanner data in a Consumer Price Index. The attractiveness stems from the ability to be able to control for chain drift bias. Consensus on two key issues has yet to be achieved: (i) the best multilateral...