Toward a Cost-of-Living Index: Progress and Prospects
回顾了美国劳工统计局自1990年代中期以来对消费者价格指数的改进，包括更新支出模式、考虑消费者替代行为以及调整商品质量变化，并基于国家科学院小组的建议，探讨了未来最有潜力和较不乐观的研究方向。
The author considers the improvements the Bureau of Labor Statistics has made to the Consumer Price Index since the mid 1990s. These include changes designed to make the index more representative of current expenditure patterns; to account for consumer substitution in response to relative price change; and to account for changes in the quality of the goods and services that consumers purchase. Drawing on selected recommendations made by the National Academy of Sciences Panel on Conceptual, Measurement, and Other Statistical Issues in Developing Cost-of Living Indexes recently chaired by Charles Schultze, the author highlights those additional areas for exploration that she believes have the greatest potential and discuss those areas she believes to be less promising.