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Yeah, I am concerned with the methodology more than the reporting. > 11. How are CPI prices collected and reviewed? BLS data collectors visit (in person or on
by omgitsabird 5y ago
Yeah, I am concerned with the methodology more than the reporting.
> 11. How are CPI prices collected and reviewed?
BLS data collectors visit (in person or on the web) or call thousands of retail stores, service establishments, rental units, and doctors' offices, all over the United States to obtain information on the prices of the thousands of items used to track and measure price changes in the CPI. We record the prices of about 80,000 items each month, representing a scientifically selected sample of the prices paid by consumers for goods and services purchased.[1]
> The CPI survey collects about 94,000 prices per month to compute indexes for commodities and services. Approximately two-thirds of price collection in the CPI is done by personal visits of CPI data collectors to brick-and-mortar stores. The remaining data are collected by telephone or on the outlet’s website. In some cases, these data are supplemented by data provided from other sources. The outlets where prices are collected are selected based on data from the CE survey. These outlets may be brick-and-mortar stores or websites (e-commerce); currently, about 8 percent of CPI quotes are collected from outlet websites.[2]
This seems easily biased and inefficient when considering theoretical alternatives.
1. https://www.bls.gov/cpi/questions-and-answers.htm#Question_11 https://www.bls.gov/cpi/questions-and-answers.htm#Question_1...
2. https://www.bls.gov/opub/hom/cpi/data.htm https://www.bls.gov/opub/hom/cpi/data.htm
- nuerow 5y ago> This seems easily biased and inefficient when considering theoretical alternatives. What possibly leads you to believe that aggregating the price of 80k items from different markets is something that can be easily biased?
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- omgitsabird 5y agohttps://economics.mit.edu/files/5408 https://economics.mit.edu/files/5408
- disgruntledphd2 5y agoIt would probably be more helpful if you could summarise your thoughts on the linked article here.