George Mason University
CSI/Statistics Colloquium Series
Seminar Announcement
Statistics for Price Indices
Alan Dorfman
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
ABSTRACT
Indices of price changes have both statistical and economic
aspects. In
most nations, they are among the statistics most likely to affect the
outlook and
well-being of their citizenry. In the United States, the method of
constructing the Consumer Price Index has received much attention in
recent
years from Congress and the media, because of the Index's impact on
salaries, pensions, taxes, federal expenditures, and on those who
guide the
economy. Early on, index estimation was a standard part of
statistical
lore. In recent decades, however, the statistical side of price
indices
has been neglected, while the economic side has received a great deal
of
attention. It as if epidemiolgy had developed by the endeavors of
physicians alone. The present talk will discuss price indices from
the
ground up, and the distinct ways we understand them, including
statistical
modeling, which affects our notion of what a price index is, and what
it
means to estimate it.
Friday, April 23, 1999
George W. Johnson Center, Assembly Room D
Refreshments at 10:30 a.m.
Seminar at 10:45 a.m.