Different Perspectives on the Rate of Inflation, 1982-2000: The Impact of Homeownership Costs

Articles and reports: 62F0014M2003016
Description: For a long time, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) has been the most commonly referenced measure of inflation. However, it is not generally perceived how sensitive the CPI is to the measurement of price change for owned accommodation. The relative importance of the homeownership component in the CPI and the movement of that component are critically dependent on the choice of concept for estimating homeownership costs. However, there is no one concept that is generally agreed upon by official statistical agencies. As part of an ongoing research program into major issues involved in the construction of consumer price indexes, analytical indexes of consumer prices based on different treatments of owned accommodation are updated in this publication for the period 1995 to 2000.

This paper presents seven alternative homeownership series based on four different concepts, including one based on the current concept used in the official CPI. Series are also shown for higher-level aggregates, including indexes at the All-items level. All of these higher-level aggregates differ only in their owned accommodation components, for all aggregates and all other components are based on the official concept.

no: 16
Issue Number: 2003016
Frequency: Occasional
Author(s): Baldwin, Andy; Mansour, Emad
Main Product: Prices Analytical Series
Format Release date More information
PDF March 19, 2003

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