National Statistics Online - Articles - Measuring the quality of the producer price index
Articles Database
Measuring the quality of the producer price index
Presents initial ONS estimates of standard errors for two growth rate measures of the gross sector output PPI
Authors: Tegwen Green, John Morris
Economic & Labour Market Review, vol 1, no 10 ISSN: 1751-8334
The calculation of standard errors for the output producer price index (PPI) has been investigated with the aim of measuring the quality of the growth rates of the published price indices. This article presents, for the first time, Office for National Statistics’ (ONS) estimates of the standard errors for month-on-month and 12-month growth rates of the gross sector output PPI. It provides an account of the initial investigation of standard errors within the PPI context and explains: the PPI structure and describes the index types for which standard errors have been calculated; what standard errors are and how they can be interpreted; the new method of calculation of standard errors for the PPI; the main findings from the analysis within the context of the PPI structure; and the publication policy.
Published in web format: 15 October 2007 at 9:30 am