Price Measurements and Their Uses
edited by Murray F. Foss, Marilyn E. Manser and Allan H. Young
University of Chicago Press, 1993
eISBN: 978-0-226-25732-7 | Cloth: 978-0-226-25730-3
Library of Congress Classification HC106.3.C714 vol. 57
Dewey Decimal Classification 330

ABOUT THIS BOOK
In an economy characterized by frequent change in technology, in the types of goods and services purchased, and in the forms of business organization, keeping track of price change continues to pose many difficulties. Price change affects the way we perceive changes in such basic measures as real output, productivity, and living standards. This volume, which brings together academic economists with those responsible for official price indexes, presents outstanding new research on price measurement.

Half of the papers focus on prices for mainframe and personal computers, semiconductors, and other high-tech products, using mainly hedonic techniques. The volume includes a panel discussion by distinguished economists about the theoretical and practical considerations of how best to measure price change of capital goods whose quality is changing rapidly. The authors also present new research on more conventional but still unsettled problems in the price field affecting both the consumer and producer price indexes of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Murray F. Foss is a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research. Marilyn E. Manser is assistant commissioner for economic research at the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor. Allan H. Young is chief statistician at the Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Department of Commerce.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
    Prefatory Note
    Acknowledgments
    Introduction
    Murray F. Foss
    Marilyn E. Manser
    Allan H. Young
    I. High-Tech Products: Computers
    1. Constant-Quality Price Change, Depreciation, And Retirement Of Mainframe Computers
    Stephen D. Oliner
    2. Price Indexes For Microcomputers: An Exploratory Study
    Ernst R. Berndt
    Zvi Griliches
    Comment (On 1 & 2): Rosanne Cole
    II. High-Tech Products: Semiconductors
    3. Sources Of Price Decline In Computer Processors: Selected Electronic Components
    Ellen R. Dulberger
    4. Cost Function Estimation Of Quality Change In Semiconductors
    John R. Norsworthy
    Show-Ling Jang
    5. Measurement Of Dram Prices: Technology And Market Structure
    Kenneth Flamm
    Comment ( On 3, 4, & 5): Jack E. Triplett
    III. Quality-Change Issues In Consumer Prices
    6. Adjusting Apparel Indexes In The Cpi For Quality Differences
    Paul R. Liegey Jr.
    7. The Effect Of Outlet Price Differentials On The U.S. Consumer Price Index
    Marshall Reinsdorf
    Comment (On 6 & 7): Joel Popkin
    IV. Transaction Prices
    8. The Problem Of List Prices In The Producer Price Index: The Steel Mill Products Case
    Thomas Betsock
    Irwin B. Gerduk
    9. Does Government Regulation Inhibit The Reporting Of Transactions Prices By Business?
    Murray F. Foss
    Comment (On 8 & 9): Robert W. Crandall
    V. Price Indexes For Defense And International Trade
    10. The Deflation Of Military Aircraft
    Richard C. Ziemer
    Pamela A. Kelly
    Comment: Arthur J. Alexander
    VI. Implications Of Bea's Treatment Of Computer Prices For Productivity Measurement
    11. Panel Discussion: Implications Of Bea's Treatment Of Computer Prices And Productivity Measurement
    Chair: Frank De Leeuw
    Statements: Edward F. Denison, Zvi Griliches, Charles R. Hulten, And Thomas K. Rymes
    Comments: Arthur J. Alexander, Edwin R. Dean, René Durand, And Michael Harper