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Changes to methodology employed in the CPI and RPI from February 2004
Details of methodological changes for CPI and RPI to be introduced from February 2004.
Author: Adrian Ball
Economic Trends, no No. 604, pp 64-69. ISSN: 0013-0400
As part of an ongoing programme of work to apply the best available statistical methodology in the calculation of official consumer price indices three changes will be made to the February indices published in March 2004:
- the introduction of local probability sampling for the selection within retail outlets of some high turnover, high technology goods;
- the introduction of digital cameras into the basket of goods priced for both the CPI and RPI. Hedonic regression will be used to produce valuations of changes in quality;
- the extension of the hedonic regression method of quality adjustment for PCs from the CPI to the RPI.
This article explains the decision to implement and describes each methodology in turn.
All of the changes explained in this article will be introduced into the CPI and RPI for February 2004, published in March. Research will continue to look for ways to improve our official consumer price indices, including identifying other items that may benefit from Local Probability Sampling or hedonic quality adjustment.
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