Current status of the debate on the Consumer Price Index in the U.S. - ARCHIVED

The final report of the Boskin Commission (after its chair Michael Baskin) arrived like a huge boulder dropped into a quiet pool of water. It made an enormous splash in the U.S. and the tidal waves and ripples have spread out all over the world. But eight months after the report's December 1996 publication, the centre of the pool where the boulder landed has become almost completely still. This paper presents some of the reasons why no opportunities were grasped following the publication of the report. The paper concludes that one missed opportunity is the creation of a more unified economic statistical system. Although Statistics USA is not going anywhere, there is still hope for the future.