A Failure in the Measurement of Inflation
统计机构用匹配模型法编制消费者价格指数，但在产品更新快的市场中，匹配样本年底可能严重不具代表性。本文推导偏差模型，并用五种产品的月度扫描数据实证分析，探讨减少偏差的策略。
Statistical offices use the matched-model method to compile consumer price indexes to measure inflation. In markets where models turn over rapidly, the matched sample may, by the end of a year, be quite unrepresentative of what is and what was bought. An analytical model is derived to show how bias in a matched-model index arises and extended to shed further light on the influential Aizcorbe, Corrado, and Doms methodology. The empirical work on the bias is undertaken using monthly scanner data for five products: washing machines, dishwashers, television sets, cameras, and vacuum cleaners. Different strategies are explored that might ameliorate the bias, including using replacement models for old unmatched models, with hedonic adjustments to prices, more frequent sample rotation, and hedonic indices.