Final
Program
February 6, 2005 version
SSHRC International Conference on Index
Number Theory and the Measurement of Prices and Productivity
Fairmont Waterfront Hotel, Vancouver, June 30 - July 3, 2004
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here for a PRINTER FRIENDLY PDF version of the program
Tuesday
June 29, 2004
RECEPTION
5:30-10:00 Princess Louisa Suite (2nd floor) Soft drinks,
all-evening light buffet supper, cash bar
June
30-July 3, 2004
This conference is being funded in part by a grant from the
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC)
to Alice Nakamura and Erwin Diewert as an approved part of
their Rethinking Productivity Strategic Grant project.
The University of Alberta
and the University of British
Columbia, Finance Canada,
Industry Canada and
Statistics Canada, as well
as the Centre
for Efficiency and Productivity Analysis of the University
of Queensland in Australia, and
Meyrick and Associates,
also based in Australia, have also helped with the funding of
this conference.
Wednesday,
JUNE 30
THE
BEGINNING 8:45-9:00 Erwin Diewert, University of British Columbia
SESSION
1: Topics in Index Number and Measurement Theory Chair:
Alice Nakamura, University of Alberta
Paper 1: 9:00-9:45 Erwin Diewert, University of British
Columbia, "Index
Number Theory: Past Progress and Future Challenges"
Paper
2: 9:45-10:30 Bert Balk, Statistics Netherlands and Erasmus
University Rotterdam, “Direct
and Chained Indices: A Review of Two Paradigms
COFFEE
10:30-11:00
SESSION
2: Quality Change and Hedonic Regression Methods I Chair:
Charles Hulten, University of Maryland
Paper
3: 11:00-11:30 Jack Triplett, Brookings Institution, “When
Do Hedonic and Matched Model Indexes Give Different Results?
And Why?, Background:
Chapter III,
Chapter VII, Discussant: Mick Silver, Cardiff Business
School
Paper
4: 11:30-12:00 Jan de Haan, Statistics Netherlands,
Estimating Quality-Adjusted Unit Value Indexes: Evidence from
Scanner Data, Discussant: Ted To, Bureau of Labor
Statistics
LUNCH
12:30-1:30
Luncheon
Speech: Paul Armknecht, IMF, Erwin Diewert, University of
British Columbia and Mick Silver, Cardiff University, The
New Price Index Manuals
SESSION
3: Measuring Changes in the Cost of Living and in Wellbeing
Chair: Kevin Fox, University of New South Wales
Paper
5: 1:30-2:15 Paul Haschka, Statistics Austria and Eurostat,
“The
Application of the Concept of Basic Purpose for Sampling,
Replacement, Quality Adjustment and Aggregation”, Discussant: Jack Triplett, The
Brookings Institution
Paper 6: 2:15-3:00 Edward N. Wolff, New York University, Ajit
Zacharias, Levy Economics Institute, and Asena Caner, Levy Economics
Institute, “Household
Wealth, Public Consumption and Economic Well-Being in the
United States”, Discussant:
John Greenlees, US Bureau of Labor Statistics
SESSION
4: The Measurement of Output, Input and Productivity I Chair:
Bert Balk, Statistics Netherlands and Erasmus University Rotterdam
Paper
7: 1:30-2:15 Emi Nakamura, Harvard University, “Demand
Shocks and Real GDP Measurement”,
Background, Discussant:
Susanto
Basu, Harvard University
Paper
8: 2:15-3:00 Paul Schreyer, OECD, “Measuring Multi-Factor
Productivity when Rates of Return Are Exogenous”, Discussant: Erwin
Diewert, University of British Columbia
COFFEE
3:00-3:30
SESSION
5: New Developments in Consumer Price Index Theory Chair:
John Greenlees, US Bureau of Labor Statistics
Paper
9: 3:30-4:15 Laura Blow and Ian Crawford, Institute for Fiscal Studies,
UK, and Martin Browning, Institute of Economics, Copenhagen
University, “Nonparametric
Methods for the Consumer Characteristics Model”, Discussant: Jan de Haan, Statistics Netherlands
Paper
10: 4:15-5:00 Spencer Banzhaf, Resources for the Future, “Green
Price Indices”, Discussant: Robert Hill, University
of New South Wales
Paper
11: 5:00-5:45 Breige Allan-Greer, D.S. Prasada Rao and Chris
O’Donnel, University of Queensland, Constructing
Divisia Indexes from Retail Scanner Data using Wavelet Methods”, Discussant: Bert Balk, Statistics Netherlands
and Erasmus University Rotterdam
SESSION
6: Difficult to Measure Outputs I Chair: Dennis Fixler, US Bureau
of Economic Analysis
Paper
12: 3:30-4:15 Carol Corrado, Wendy Dunn, and Maria Otoo, Board
of Governors of the Federal Reserve, “Incentives
and Prices for Motor Vehicles: What has been Happening in
Recent Years?”,
Discussant: Jan van Dalen, Erasmus University Rotterdam
Paper
13: 4:15-5:00 David Paton, Nottingham University Business
School, Donald Siegel, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and
Leighton Vaughan Williams, Nottingham Trent University, “Productivity
Measurement in a Service Industry: Plant-Level Evidence from
Gambling Establishments in the United Kingdom”, Discussant:
Kam Yu, Lakehead University
Paper
14: 5:00-5:45 Tarek Harchaoui and Faouzi Tarkhani, Statistics
Canada, “Integrating
Natural Capital in the Canadian Productivity Accounts”, Discussant:
Denis Lawrence, Meyrick and Associates, Australia
DINNER
6:30-9:30 The Princess Louisa Suite, Waterfront Hotel, level
2 (pre-paid special ticket required for those not on the
CRIW/SSHRC programs; not included in conference fee)
Dinner
Speech: Andrew Sharpe, Center for the Study of Living Standards,
Ottawa, “Ten Productivity Puzzles Facing Researchers”
Thursday,
JULY 1
SESSION
7: Quality Change and Hedonic Regression Methods II Chair:
Erwin Diewert, University of British Columbia
Paper
15: 9:00-9:30 Teague Ruder, Ted To, US Bureau of Labor Statistics,
and Mick Silver, Cardiff University,
“Quantity versus Quality of Characteristic Data in Hedonic
Regressions”, Discussant: Peter Hein van Mulligen, Statistics
Netherlands
Paper
16: 9:30-10:00 Daniel Melser,
University of New South Wales, The Hedonic Regression
Time-Dummy Method and the Monotonicity Axioms”,
Discussant: Ludwig von Auer, Otto-von-Guericke-Universitaet
Magdeburg
Paper
17: 10:00-10:30 Jan van Dalen and Ben Bode, Erasmus University
Rotterdam, “Estimation
Biases in Quality-Adjusted Hedonic Price Indices”,
Discussant: Mick
Silver, Cardiff Business School
COFFEE
10:30-11:00
SESSION
8: Difficult to Measure Outputs II Chair: Kevin Fox, University
of New South Wales
Paper
18: 11:00-11:30 Denis Lawrence, Meyrick and Associates, Australia
and Erwin Diewert, University of British Columbia, “Measuring
Output and Productivity in Electricity Networks”, Discussant: Tarek Harchaoui, Statistics Canada
Paper
19: 11:30-12:00 Leonard Nakamura, Federal Reserve Bank of
Philadelphia, “Advertising, Intangible Assets and Unpriced
Entertainment”,
Notes, Discussant: Frank Wykoff, Pomona College
Paper
20: 12:00-12:30
Jack E. Triplett and Barry P. Bosworth, Brookings Institution, “Price,
Output, and Productivity of Insurance: Conceptual Issues”,
Discussant: Dennis Fixler, US Bureau of Economic Analysis
LUNCH
12:30-1:30
Luncheon Speech: George Beelen, Statistics Canada, "Improving
Business Services Price Indexes in Canada"
SESSION
9: Quality Change and Hedonic Regression Methods III Chair:
Alice Nakamura, University of Alberta
Paper
21: 1:30-2:15 Daniel Melser, University of New South Wales,
“Accounting
for the Effects of New and Disappearing Goods Using Scanner
Data”, Discussant: Bert Balk, Statistics Netherlands
and Erasmus University Rotterdam
Paper
22: 2:15-3:00, Adrian Ball and David Fenwick, the Office of National
Statistics, UK: "Static
Samples in a Dynamic Universe: The Potential Use of Scanner
Data and Hedonic Regression in the Compilation of Consumer
Price Indices",
Discussant: Jörgen Dalén, Consultant for Eurostat
and Statistics Sweden
SESSION
10: Price Indexes for Internationally Traded Goods and Services
Chair: Ulrich Kohli, Swiss National Bank
Paper
23: 1:30-2:15 Erwin Diewert, University of British Columbia, William Alterman, US Bureau of Labor
Statistics and Lorraine
Eden, Texas A&M University, “Transfer
Prices and Import and Export Price Indexes: Theory and
Practice”,
Discussant: Kim Zieschang, International Monetary Fund
Paper
24: 2:15-3:00 Catherine L. Mann, Institute for International
Economics, “Prices
for International Services Transactions Issues and a Framework
for Development”,
Discussant: Dennis Fixler, US Bureau of Economic Analysis
COFFEE
3:00-3:30
SESSION
11: Quality Change and Hedonic Regression Methods IV Chair:
Mick Silver, Cardiff Business School
Paper
25: 3:30-4:15 Teague Ruder and Ted To, US Bureau of Labor
Statistics, “Brand
Dummy Variables in Hedonic Regressions:A Study Using Stereo
Receiver Scanner Data”,
Discussant: Carol Corrado, Board of Governors of the US Federal
Reserve
Paper
26: 4:15-5:00 Jörgen Dalén, Consultant for Eurostat
and Statistics Sweden and Ulrika Ingelsson, Statistics
Sweden, “Measuring Price Changes for
Books Based on Hedonic Models”, Discussant: David
Johnson, Bureau of Labor Statistics
Paper
27: 5:00-5:45 Ludwig von Auer, Otto-von-Guericke-Universitaet
Magdeburg, “Hedonic Price Measurement: The CCC Method”,
Discussant:
Daniel Melser, University of New South Wales
SESSION
12: The Measurement of Contributions to Productivity Growth
I Chair: Bert Balk, Statistics Netherlands and Erasmus University
Rotterdam
Paper
28: 3:30-4:15 Robert Yuskavage and Marshall Reinsdorf,
US Bureau of Economic Analysis, “Exact
Industry Contributions to Labor Productivity Change”,
Discussant: Erwin Diewert, University of British Columbia
Paper
29: 4:15-5:00 Ulrich Kohli, Swiss National Bank, “Labor
Productivity: Average vs. Marginal”, Discussant: Marshall Reinsdorf, US Bureau of Economic Analysis
Paper
30: 5:00-5:45 Denis Lawrence, Meyrick and Associates, Australia,
Erwin Diewert, University of British Columbia and Kevin Fox,
University of New South Wales, “The
Contributions of Productivity, Price Changes and Firm Size to
Profitability”,
Discussant: Paul Schreyer, OECD
DINNER 6:30-11:30 Evening event at Grouse Mountain hosted, as
a private party, by Alice, Emi and Masao Nakamura (pre-paid
special ticket required for those not on the CRIW/SSHRC
programs; this event is not included in the conferences fee)
Friday,
JULY 2
SESSION
13: Inter Area and Cross Country Comparisons of Prices I Chair:
Alan Heston, University of Maryland
Paper
31: 9:00-9:30 Bettina Aten and Ana Aizcorbe, US Bureau of
Economic Analysis, “An
Approach to Pooled Time and Space Comparisons”, Discussant: Robert Hill, University of
New South Wales
Paper
32: 9:30-10:00 D.S. Prasada Rao, University of Queensland, The
Country-Product-Dummy Method: A Stochastic Approach to the
Computation of Purchasing Power Parities in the ICP”, Discussant:
Mick Silver, Cardiff Business School
Paper 33: 10:00-10:30 Keir Armstrong, Carleton University, “Hyperextended-Real-Valued
Indexes of Absolute Dissimilarity”, Discussant:
D.S. Prasada Rao, University of Queensland
10:30-11:00
COFFEE
SESSION
14: Problems in the Measurement of Housing Services and Prices
I Chair: Kevin Fox, University of New South Wales
Paper
34: 11:00-11:30 Alan Heston, University of Maryland, “Spatial
Comparisons of Costs of Housing Services”, Discussant: Johannes
Hoffmann, Deutsche Bundesbank
Paper
35: 11:30-12:00 Theodore M. Crone, Federal Reserve Bank of
Philadelphia, Leonard I. Nakamura, Federal Reserve Bank of
Philadelphia and Richard Voith, Econsult, “Hedonic
Estimates of the Cost of Housing Services: Rental and
Owner-Occupied Units”, Discussant:
Erwin Diewert, University of British Columbia
Paper
36: 12:00-12:30 Claudia Kurz and Johannes Hoffmann, Deutsche Bundesbank, “A
Rental-Equivalence Index for Owner-Occupied Housing in West
Germany, 1985 to 1998”, Discussant:
Richard Voith, Econsult
LUNCH
12:30-1:30
Luncheon Speech: Steve Landefeld, Bureau of Economic Analysis,
“Updating
Concepts and Methods for Index Numbers, Prices, and Productivity:
How Are We Doing?”
SESSION
15: Inter Area and Cross Country Comparisons of Prices II
Chair: Ulrich Kohli, Swiss National Bank
Paper
37: 1:30-2:15 Robert Hill, University of New South Wales,
“Constructing Price Indexes Across Space and Time: the
Case of the European Union”, Discussant: Bettina Aten,
Bureau of Economic Analysis
Paper
38: 2:15-3:00 Silke Stapel, Eurostat, “Challenging the
“Snapshot Theory” of Purchasing Power Parities: Eurostat’s Revision of the PPP 1995 to 2000”,
Discussant: Alan Heston, University of Maryland
SESSION
16: Issues in the Measurement of Capital and Depreciation
Chair: Erwin Diewert, University of British Columbia
Paper
39: 1:30-2:15 Frank Wykoff, Pomona College, “Obsolescence
vs. Deterioration with Embodied Technological Change”,
Discussant: Charles Hulten, University of Maryland
Paper
40: 2:15-3:00 Mark Tanguay, Statistics Canada, “Linking
Fix Capital Capacity and Economic Depreciation: A Joint Density
Approach”, Discussant: Jack Triplett, Brookings
Institution
COFFEE
3:00-3:30
SESSION
17: Problems in the Measurement of Housing Services and Prices
II Chair: John Greenlees, US Bureau of Labor Statistics
Paper
41: 3:30-4:15 Randall Verbrugge, US Bureau of Labor Statistics,
“The
Puzzling Divergence of Aggregate Rents and User Costs,
1978-2001”,
Discussant: Leonard
I. Nakamura, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, Slides
Paper
42: 4:15-5:00 Arnold Katz, US Bureau of Economic Analysis,
“Estimating
Dwelling Services in the Candidate Countries: Theoretical and
Practical Considerations in Developing Methodologies Based on
the User Cost of Capital Measure”, Discussant:
Kim Zieschang, International Monetary Fund
Paper
43: 5:00-5:45 Tarek Harchaoui, Statistics Canada and Faouzi
Tarkhani, Statistics Canada, “Accounting
for Consumers Durables and Housing in the Canadian
Productivity Accounts”, Discussant: Spencer Banzhaf,
Resources for the Future
SESSION
18: The Measurement of Output, Input and Productivity II Chair:
Kevin Fox, University of New South Wales
Paper
44: 3:30-4:15 Robert G. Chambers, University of Maryland and
University of Western Australia, “Productivity
Measurement under Uncertainty”,
Discussant: Rolf Färe, Oregon State University
Paper
45: 4:15-5:00 Soren Arnberg, AKF, Copenhagen and Ian Crawford,
Institute for Fiscal Studies, “An
Axiomatic Approach to the Measurement of Productivity”, Discussant: Bert Balk, Statistics
Netherlands and Erasmus University Rotterdam
Paper
46: 5:00-5:45 Ulrich Kohli, Swiss National Bank, “Inexact
Index Numbers and Economic Monotonicity Violations: The GDP
Implicit Price Deflator”, Discussant: Ludwig
von Auer, Otto-von-Guericke-Universitaet Magdeburg
DINNER 6:30-11:30 Evening costal cruise, dinner, reception and
dance hosted as a private party by Christina Wang and Susanto
Basu (pre-paid special ticket required for those not on the
CRIW/SSHRC programs; this event is not included in the
conferences fee)
Saturday,
JULY 3
SESSION
19: The Measurement of Knowledge Capital and the Effects of
New Technologies Chair: B. K. Atrostic, US Census Bureau
Paper
47: 9:00-9:45 John Baldwin, Desmond Beckstead, Guy Gellatly,
Statistics Canada, “Canada's
Expenditure on Knowledge Capital”, Discussant: Barbara
Fraumeni, US Bureau of Economic Analysis
Paper
48: 9:45-10:30 Jeffrey I. Bernstein, Carleton University and Theofanis P. Mamuneas, University of Leicester, “R&D
Depreciation, Stocks, User Costs, and Productivity Growth
for U.S. Knowledge Intensive Industries, Discussant:
Emi Nakamura, Harvard University
SESSION
20: Seasonal Adjustment and Price Indexes I Chair: Erwin Diewert,
University of British Columbia
Paper
49: 9:00-9:45 Andrew Baldwin, Statistics Canada, “The
Redesign of the Canadian Farm Product Price Index”, Discussant:
Bert Balk, Statistics Netherlands and Erasmus University Rotterdam
Paper 50: 9:45-10:30 Peter Hein van Mulligen and May Hua Oei, Statistics Netherlands,
“The
Use of Scanner Data in the CPI: A Curse in Disguise?”, Discussant: Yoel Finkel, Central Bureau of Statistics,
Israel
COFFEE
10:30-11:00
SESSION
21: Seasonal Adjustment and Price Indexes II and the Receipts
Approach Chair: Erwin Diewert, University of British Columbia
Paper
51: 11:00-11:45 W. Erwin Diewert, University of British
Columbia, Yoel Finkel and Yevgeny Artsev, Central Bureau of Statistics,
Israel, “On
the Treatment of Seasonal Commodities in CPI: The Israeli
Experience”, Discussant: Peter Hein
van Mulligen, Statistics Netherlands
Paper
52: 11:45-12:30 Rosmundur Gudnason, Statistics Iceland, “The
Receipts Approach to the Collection of Household Expenditure
Data”, Discussant: David Fenwick, Office of National
Statistics, UK
SESSION
22: The Measurement of Output, Input and Productivity III
Chair: Bert Balk, Statistics Netherlands and Erasmus University
Rotterdam
Paper
53: 11:00-11:45 Baoline Chen and Peter A. Zadrozny, US Bureau
of Labor Statistics, “Computing
Total Factor Productivity without Substitution Bias”,
Discussant: D.S. Prasada Rao, University of Queensland
Paper
54: 11:45-12:30 Andrew Baldwin, Statistics Canada, “Chain
Price and Volume Aggregates for the
System of National Accounts”, Discussant: Marshall
Reinsdorf, US Bureau of Economic Analysis
LUNCH:
12:30-1:30
SESSION
23: Canadian and US Productivity Growth Chair: Kevin Fox,
University of New South Wales
Paper
55: 1:30-2:00 Mun S. Ho, Someshwar Rao and Jianmin Tang, Industry
Canada, “Measuring the Contribution of Information and
Communication Technologies to Productivity Growth”,
Discussant: Alice Nakamura, University of Alberta
Paper
56: 2:00-2:30 John Baldwin, Statistics Canada, “Canada
US Comparisons of Productivity Levels: Estimation Issues”,
Discussant: Rolf Färe, Oregon State University
COFFEE
2:30-3:00
SESSION
24: The Measurement of Contributions to Productivity Growth
II Chair: Dennis Fixler, US Bureau of Economic Analysis
Paper 57: 3:00-3:30 Erwin Diewert, University of British
Columbia and Kevin J. Fox, University of New South Wales, On
the Estimation of Returns to Scale, Technical Progress and
Monopolistic Markups”, Discussant:
Susanto Basu, Harvard
University and the University of Michigan
Paper
58: 3:30-4:00 Erwin Diewert, University of British Columbia, Alice Nakamura,
University of Alberta, Emi Nakamura, Harvard University,
and Masao Nakamura, University of British Columbia, “Measuring the Price and Quantity of Labor: Theory and Practice in Canada, Japan and the United
States”, Discussant: Ernst Berndt, Massachusetts Institute
of Technology
Paper
59: 4:00-4:30 B.K. Atrostic and Sang Nguyen, US Census Bureau,
“How
Businesses Use Information Technology: Insights for Measuring
Capital and Productivity”, Discussant:
Ian Mead, Bureau of Economic Analysis
DINNER 6:30-12:00 Dinner and party in the Cypress Room of the
Pan Pacific Hotel (directly across from the conference hotel),
beginning with a reception, followed by dinner from about 7:30
and then drinks, dancing for those who'd enjoy that, and a
relaxed atmosphere for sitting and chatting on this final
night. All conference participants and their partners are
welcome. This evening is hosted as a private party by Frank
and Jane Wykoff.
Master of Ceremonies for the Evening: Jeff Bernstein, Carlton
University
THE
END 4:30-4:45 Alice Nakamura, University of Alberta
Notes
to authors and discussants
With
the exception of the first session, all non parallel sessions
are one hour in duration, with a half hour allocated per
paper. For these non parallel sessions,
authors will get 15 minutes to present the highlights of their
results, the discussants will get 5 minutes to either point
out what they see as the major problems with the paper or
if there are no major problems, then they can give an indication
of where future generalizations or extensions of the paper
may lie. This leaves 10 minutes for discussion from the floor.
For
the parallel sessions, authors will get 25 minutes to present
the highlights of their results, the discussants will get
5 minutes to either point out what they see as the major problems
or if there are no major problems, then they can give an indication
of where future generalizations or extensions of the paper
may lie. This leaves 15 minutes for discussion from the floor.
However,
discussants may (if they wish) provide more extensive written
comments on the papers that they discuss. These will be posted
on the conference website: http://www.ipeer.ca/conferences.htm.
The program committee wishes to apologize to authors and discussants
for limiting their time so drastically but we did not expect
so many submissions; we were expecting perhaps 40 submissions
at the most but we received over 125.
Authors
must submit their paper to Erwin Diewert (diewert@econ.ubc.ca)
by June 1, 2004 in a PDF or Word file, and also to Alice Nakamura
(alice.nakamura@ualberta.ca)
so that it can be posted on the conference website and so
that discussants will have a chance to prepare their comments
in advance. Copies
of the conference papers will be made available at the conference
site but we anticipate that participants will be downloading
and reading the papers of particular interest to them so that
they can ask thought provoking questions of the authors and
discussants.
The
program committee intends to publish the proceedings of the
conference (as two or three volumes) but the details have
not yet been finalized. Authors are free to publish their
papers elsewhere if they desire. We hope that the program
will advance the state of the art in index number theory and
measurement economics.
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here for a PRINTER FRIENDLY PDF version of the program
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