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EXACT AND SUPERLATIVE PRICE AND QUANTITY INDICATORS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 September 2009

W. Erwin Diewert  and
Hideyuki Mizobuchi
W. Erwin Diewert*
Affiliation:
University of British Columbia
Hideyuki Mizobuchi
Affiliation:
University of British Columbia
*
Address correspondence to: W. Erwin Diewert, Department of Economics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z1, Canada; e-mail: diewert@econ.ubc.ca.
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Abstract

The traditional economic approach to index number theory is based on a ratio of cost functions. Diewert defined superlative price and quantity indices as observable indices that were exact for a ratio of unit cost functions or for a ratio of linearly homogeneous utility functions. The present paper looks for counterparts to his results in the difference context, for both flexible homothetic and flexible nonhomothetic preferences. The Bennet indicators of price and quantity change turn out to be superlative for the nonhomothetic case. The underlying preferences are of the translation-homothetic form discussed by Balk, Chambers, Dickenson, Färe, and Grosskopf.

Keywords

Equivalent and Compensating VariationsExact and Superlative IndicesBennet Indicators
Type
Articles
Information
Macroeconomic Dynamics , Volume 13 , Supplement S2: Measurement with Theory , September 2009 , pp. 335 - 380
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

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