Scanner Data and Price Indexes

by Feenstra, Robert C.; Shapiro, Matthew D.

• ISBN13: 9780226239651
• ISBN10: 0226239659
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-02-01
• Publisher: Univ of Chicago Pr

Summary

Every time you buy a can of tuna or a new television, its bar code is scanned to record its price and other information. These "scanner data" offer a number of attractive features for economists and statisticians, because they are collected continuously, are available quickly, and record prices for all items sold, not just a statistical sample. But scanner data also present a number of difficulties for current statistical systems. Scanner Data and Price Indexes assesses both the promise and the challenges of using scanner data to produce economic statistics. Three papers present the results of work in progress at statistical agencies in the U.S., United Kingdom, and Canada, including a project at the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics to investigate the feasibility of incorporating scanner data into the monthly Consumer Price Index. Other papers demonstrate the enormous potential of using scanner data to test economic theories and estimate the parameters of economic models, and provide solutions for some of the problems that arise when using scanner data, such as dealing with missing data.

Author Biography

Robert C. Feenstra is associate professor of economics at the University of California at Davis and is coeditor of the Journal for International Economics.

Table of Contents

Prefatory Note

Introduction

Scanner Data in Official Statistics: Advancing the State of the Art

Using Scanner Data to Improve the Quality of Measurement in the Consumer Price Index

Scanner Indexes for the Consumer Price Index

Price Collection and Quality Assurance of Item Sampling in the Retail Prices Index: How Can Scanner Data Help?

Estimating Price Movements for Consumer Durables Using Electronic Retail Transactions Data

Roundtable Discussion

Aggregation across Time

High-Frequency Substitution and the Measurement of Price Indexes

Comment

Using Scanner Data in Consumer Price Indexes: Some Neglected Conceptual Considerations

Using Price Data to Study Market Structure

What Can the Price Gap between Branded and Private-Label Products Tell Us about Markups?

Comment

The Long Shadow of Patent Expiration: Generic Entry and Rx-to-OTC Switches

Comment

Measuring Change in Quality and Imputing Missing Observations

The Measurement of Quality-Adjusted Price Changes

Hedonic Regressions: A Consumer Theory Approach

Price Index Estimation Using Price Imputation for Unsold Items

Comment

Contributors

Author Index

Subject Index

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