[PEN-L:9671] any comments on this claim

[Michael Perelman <michael@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Strassmann, Paul A. 1997. The Squandered Computer: Evaluating the
 Business Alignment of Information Technologies (Information
 Economics Press).

75: "In 1992 I met with the statistical staff from the Department of
Commerce to gain an understanding of how they translated current IT
budgets into comparable 1987 dollars.  The analysts relied primarily on
the mainframe manufacturers' published claims about the declining costs
of dollars per Million Instructions per Second (MIPS) for their
adjustment calculations.  The statisticians did not make adequate
allowance for the eighty percent of IT budgets that were the salaries
which had inflated steadily.  The government projections about the
growth of computer budgets in the Federal government understated
historical costs.  Such abstract calculations made possible claims about
past cost containment. They made it possible to claim future expense
reductions against fictitious costs."
--
Michael Perelman
Economics Department
California State University
Chico, CA 95929

Tel. 530-898-5321
E-Mail michael@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx