This paper uses a dynamic factor model for the quarterly changes in consumption goods’ prices to separate them into three components: idiosyncratic relative-price changes, aggregate relative-price changes, and changes in the unit of account. The model identifies a measure of “pure” inflation: the common component in goods’ inflation rates that has an equiproportional effect on all prices and is...

The increase in nonlabor input cannot be measured directly in physical terms. Nonlabor input is estimated by taking the total increase in nonlabor costs during the period and deflating it by a price index. Under this procedure, the increase in the price index represents the increase resulting from prices and the residual (nonlabor cost in constant dollars) represents the nonlabor input. (The ra...

The primary goal of Federal Reserve monetary policy is to foster maximum long-term growth in the U.S. economy by achieving price stability over time. Price stability will be achieved, according to some definitions, when inflation ceases to be a factor in the decisionmaking processes of businesses and individuals. Although the Federal Reserve has made considerable progress toward price stability...

Relative price variability leads to inefficiencies in the allocation of resources that reduce real income (Fischer, 1981). Given the costs associated with relative price variability, the relation between inflation and relative price variability has been extensively researched and a positive relation between the two is documented for many countries and for varying time periods. Investigating the...

The most important economic measures are monetary. They have many different names, are derived in different theories and employ different formulas. Yet, they all attempt to do basically the same thing: to separate a change in nominal value into a ‘real part’ due to the changes in quantities and an inflation due to the changes of prices. Examples are: real national product and its components, th...

The primary goal of Federal Reserve monetary policy is to foster maximum long-term growth in the U.S. economy by achieving price stability over time. Price stability will be achieved, according to some definitions, when inflation ceases to be a factor in the decision-making processes of businesses and individuals. Although the Federal Reserve has made considerable progress toward price stabilit...

a r t i c l e i n f o Keywords: Asymmetry Inflation Relative price variability (RPV) U-shape JEL classification: E30 E31 E52 It is widely perceived that relative prices are more dispersed in periods of price decreases than in periods of price increases. We show that the asymmetry results from misspecifying the true, U-shaped, underlying model with a piecewise linear regression model. Ever since...

india has experienced persistently high inflation in recent years, despite a period of below-trend economic growth. As a result, controlling inflation has become a key objective for policymakers. The two main indicators of inflation in india are the wholesale price index (Wpi) and the consumer price index (cpi). Although the Wpi has traditionally been the most widely used measure for assessing ...