Restaurant Prices: Measuring Service Inflation from Scanner Data
利用约1000家日本餐厅2018-2025年的扫描数据，构建价格、数量和销售额指数，发现餐厅价格指数在不同公式下稳定，且与CPI高度一致，对研究服务通胀的学者有参考价值。
ABSTRACT Measuring service prices remains particularly challenging due to their inherent heterogeneity and lack of standardization, unlike goods whose prices are easily captured through scanner data. This study exploits newly available scanner data from approximately 1000 Japanese restaurants covering the period 2018–2025, which record detailed information on every order. We construct indices for prices, quantities, and sales. Although restaurant items are highly heterogeneous and less standardized than goods, price indices remain stable across different formulas. The indices exhibit only minimal biases from intratemporal (cross‐sectional) and intertemporal substitution. Moreover, scanner‐based restaurant prices align closely with CPI measures.