Re: The economy - a new era?/CPI estimations

[ertugrul ahmet tonak <eatonak@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I thought the use-value-based adjustments in price index calculations
are relatively new idea --if they are effectively incorporated ever.  Is
that what you meant Doug when you referred to the CPI increase due to,
for example "more stops?"  When did they start this?

Doug Henwood wrote:

> Eugene Coyle wrote:
>
> > Alfred Kahn has a new book out -- I'm told, haven't seen it.  He's
> > still boasting about the success of airline deregulation.
>
>
> Long ago - 10, 12 years - I did a piece on the general experience of
> dereg. That's when I discovered that the airfares subindex of the CPI
> had been increasing far faster than  the overall CPI, mainly because
> of quality declines (e.g., tighter purchase restrictions, more
> stops). Kahn had been quoting the real fare per seat mile measure,
> which had been going down (though no more quickly than it did
> pre-dereg). But when I asked him to comment on the behavior of the
> CPI component, he refused to believe it.
>
> Doug

--





E. Ahmet Tonak
Simon’s Rock College of Bard
Great Barrington, MA 01230

Phone: 413-528 7488

Homepage: www.simons-rock.edu/~eatonak