Constructing Price Indexes

Dates and duration

August 4 – 22, 2008 (3 weeks)

Tuition

$5,670

Participants

This seminar is designed primarily for economists, statisticians, researchers, analysts, and managers working with price indexes. Participants should have an elementary knowledge of statistics.

Objectives

To strengthen capabilities for the production and analysis of statistics on prices and expenditures with relation to:

• Designing, constructing, and analyzing indexes of consumer prices
• Designing and conducting surveys of consumer expenditures to be used in price index construction and in the measurement of living conditions
• Designing, constructing, and analyzing producer price indexes and import-export price indexes
• Using statistical tools such as probability sampling and regression analysis in the measurement and analysis of prices and living conditions

Program content

This seminar is designed to present the theory, techniques, and methodologies for planning, designing, implementing, and maintaining statistical programs for the measurement of prices and expenditures.

Consumer price indexes serve a twofold purpose: as a general economic indicator of the rate of inflation in a country's economy and as a measure for adjusting wages, salaries, and other income payments to keep in step with rising prices. The indexes are useful in formulating economic policy to maintain wage and price stability, to evaluate tax proposals, and to adjust national accounts for inflation and deflation.

Consumer expenditure surveys, which furnish data used in selecting and weighting item samples for consumer price indexes, provide valuable insights into the welfare of particular segments of the population and can be a source of data for family budget studies.

Participants are encouraged to bring with them the following materials for use in discussions and workshops: 1) methodologies on how data related to the seminar topic are collected in their home countries; 2) questionnaires used in their countries for obtaining those data; and 3) sample publications of those data. Time will be reserved for participants to have appointments with staff of BLS and other organizations to discuss special problems and explore areas of special interest.

A summary of the program follows:

Consumer expenditure surveys

• Basic concepts
• Sampling techniques
• Consumer expenditure survey design
• Collection, processing, and publication of data

Consumer Price Indexes (CPI)

• Conceptual framework
• Target population
• Sampling and weighting techniques
• Selection of sample items and outlets
• Development of specifications
• Collection and processing of data
• Construction of index numbers
• Seasonal items and other special problem areas
• Data collection and conceptual problems in the informal sector
• Publication, presentation, and dissemination of data
• Application of the CPI in other countries

Producer and industrial price indexes; export and import price indexes

• Uses and concepts
• Selection of items and respondents
• Quality adjustments and derivation of weights
• Collection, processing, and presentation of data

Techniques for analyzing data on prices and expenditures

• Analysis of selected statistical tools and techniques
• Use of price indexes as a deflator in the GDP
• Analysis of the ways in which price changes impact real wages and purchasing power

NOTE: Participants may be interested in attending the one-week seminar on Advanced Topics on Constructing Price Indexes which immediately follows this seminar.

Last modified: November 20, 2007