| Abstract: |
Economist have noted for decades that Consumer Price Index (CPI) in the
developed countries is overstating inflation by 0,5-2,0% per year. A
significant part of such a bias is found to be caused by the presence of
technology products and differentiated products in CPI. An increasing weight
of these products in the Russian CPI may also lead to a substantial upward
bias. Nowadays hedonic indices are believed to be the most efficient way to
reduce the bias. Following Triplett we have developed the taxonomy of hedonic
price indices within the “direct approach”. This first step is essential in
constructing a detailed set of hedonic price indices. They can be used in two
ways: to estimate the bias in CPI and to elaborate alternative official price
indices for IT-products. We've estimated 11% fall of price for personal
computers in 2005 with the usage of hedonic price indices, a 11-23% positive
bias in price index for PC in Russia was also calculated. We also have found
that Russian CPI could be upward biased by 0,12-0,23% per year due to new
goods and quality change effects for PC. |