TY  - JOUR
AU  - Ariga, Kenn
AU  - Matsui, Kenji
TI  - Mismeasurement of the CPI
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 9436
PY  - 2003
Y2  - January 2003
DO  - 10.3386/w9436
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w9436
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w9436.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Kenn Ariga
Kyoto University
Institute of Economic Research
Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 6068501
JAPAN
Tel: fax 81-75-753-7185
E-Mail: ariga@kier.kyoto-u.ac.jp

Kenji Matsui
Yokohama National University
Faculty of Business Administration
E-Mail: mkenzi@white.plala.or.jp
M1  - published as Kenn Ariga, Kenji Matsui. "Mismeasurement of the CPI," in Magnus Blomström, Jennifer Corbett, Fumio Hayashi and Anil Kashyap, editors, "Structural Impediments to Growth in Japan" University of Chicago Press (2003)

AB  - In this paper, we investigate several key problems in Japanese economic statistics. We use CPI mismeasurements and biases as an example to explore the roots of the problems and also to offer guidelines for improvements. We emphasize 3 major shortcomings shared by many official statistics in Japan: (1) long delays in adjustments, (2) lack of proper coordination, and 3) insufficient information disclosure. In the analysis of CPI bias, we limit our focus to potential biases due to aggregation, survey methodology and sample selection procedures. We estimate that, in recent years, the commodity CPI inflation rate is biased upward by at least 0.5% per year, even if we assume away the potential bias associated with the quality adjustment, delay in incorporating changes in consumption basket, and other important unresolved problems.
ER  -