Accounting for Housing in a CPI

Statistical agencies in different nations usually use the rental equivalence approach to the treatment of housing in their CPIs but a few countries use the user cost approach. The paper argues that an opportunity cost approach is the correct theoretical framework for accounting for OOH in a CPI. This approach, first mentioned in a 2006 OECD paper by Diewert, is developed more fully here. We explore the relationship of this new approach to the usual rental equivalency and user cost approaches. The new approach leads to an Owner Occupied Housing Opportunity Cost (OOHOC) index that is a weighted average of the rental and the financial opportunity costs.Durable goods, Consumer Price Index, Cost of Living Index, Owner Occupied Housing, depreciation, hedonic regression models, rental equivalence approac

Accounting for housing in a CPI

In this paper, we take stock of how statistical agencies in different nations are currently accounting for housing in their consumer price indexes (CPIs). The rental equivalence and user cost approaches have been favourites of economists. Both can be derived from the fundamental equation of capital theory. Concerns about these approaches are taken up. We go on to argue that an opportunity cost approach is the correct theoretical framework for accounting for owner-occupied housing (OOH) in a CPI. This approach, first mentioned in a 2006 OECD paper by Diewert, is developed more fully here. We explore the relationship of this new approach to the usual rental equivalency and user cost approaches. The new approach leads to an owner-occupied housing opportunity cost (OOHOC) index that is a weighted average of the rental and the financial opportunity costs. ; We call attention to the need for more direct measures of inflation for owner-occupied housing services. In a 2007 paper, Mishkin argues that central banks with supervisory authority can reduce the likelihood of bubbles forming through prudential supervision of the financial system. However, the official mandates of central banks typically focus on managing measured inflation. Barack Obama has pledged to give the Federal Reserve greater oversight of a broader array of financial institutions. We believe that an important addition to this pledge should be to give the BLS, BEA, and Census Bureau the funds and the mandate to aggressively develop improved measures of inflation for owner-occupied housing services. Central banks and national governments have many policy instruments at their disposal that they could use, in the future, to control inflation in housing markets. What they lack are appropriate measures of inflation in the market for owner-occupied housing services. The proposed new opportunity cost measure for accounting for OOH in a CPI will not be simple or cheap to implement. However, the current financial crisis makes it clear that the costs of not having an adequate measure for inflation in the cost of owner-occupied housing services can be far greater.Durable goods, Consumer ; Consumer price indexes ; Cost of living adjustments ; Housing

Introduction to Price and Productivity Measurement for Housing

This paper provides a brief introduction to a proposed new opportunity cost treatment of owner occupied housing in measures of inflation for the United States. In addition, the paper introduces, and provides links to, a collection of nine other papers that discuss various aspects of the treatment of owner occupied housing in measures of inflation for a number of nations including Canada, Germany, Iceland and the United States.Durable goods, Consumer Price Index, Cost of Living Index, Owner Occupied Housing, depreciation, hedonic regression models, rental equivalence approac

Introduction to price and productivity measurement for housing

This paper provides a brief introduction to a proposed new opportunity cost treatment of owner-occupied housing in measures of inflation for the United States. In addition, the paper introduces, and provides links to, a collection of nine other papers that discuss various aspects of the treatment of owner-occupied housing in measures of inflation for a number of nations, including Canada, Germany, Iceland, and the United States.Durable goods, Consumer ; Consumer price indexes ; Cost of living adjustments ; Housing

Sourcing Substitution and Related Price Index Biases

intermediate input. We define a class of bias problems that arise when purchasers shift their expenditures among sellers charging different prices for units the purchasers view as the same product but that are not regarded as being the same for the purposes of price measurement. For businesses purchasing from other businesses, these sorts of shifts can cause sourcing substitution bias in the Producer Price Index (PPI) and the Import Price Index (MPI), as well as potentially in the proposed new true Input Price Index (IPI). Similarly, when consumers shift their expenditures for the same products temporally to take advantage of promotional sales or among retailers charging different per unit prices, this can cause a promotions bias problem in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) or a CPI outlet substitution bias. We provide a common framework for these bias problems. Ideal target indexes are defined and discussed that could greatly reduce these biases. We also address the challenges national statistics agencies must surmount to produce price index measures more like the specified target ones. 1

Mutational Analysis of Ionizing Radiation Induced Neoplasms

SummaryIonizing radiation (IR) is a mutagen that promotes tumorigenesis in multiple exposure contexts. One severe consequence of IR is the development of second malignant neoplasms (SMNs), a radiotherapy-associated complication in survivors of cancers, particularly pediatric cancers. SMN genomes are poorly characterized, and the influence of genetic background on genotoxin-induced mutations has not been examined. Using our mouse models of SMNs, we performed whole exome sequencing of neoplasms induced by fractionated IR in wild-type and Nf1 mutant mice. Using non-negative matrix factorization, we identified mutational signatures that did not segregate by genetic background or histology. Copy-number analysis revealed recurrent chromosomal alterations and differences in copy number that were background dependent. Pathway analysis identified enrichment of non-synonymous variants in genes responsible for cell assembly and organization, cell morphology, and cell function and maintenance. In this model system, ionizing radiation and Nf1 heterozygosity each exerted distinct influences on the mutational landscape

Productivity Measures and Sustainable Prosperity

The government of Korea is striving to achieve more rapid, and sustainable, increases in economic output. We begin by reviewing measures national governments can use to monitor progress toward achieving sustainable prosperity. The various indexes each involve a comparison of some measure of total output volume with a measure of the total volume for specified input factors. The total output measure most used by national statistical agencies is gross domestic product (GDP). We recommend other output measures that would better capture exchange rate effects, efficiency gains in intermediate product use, and the depreciation of durable assets. The recommendations concerning the treatment of durables are of special relevance for monitoring progress toward sustainable prosperity. We also report on progress toward accounting for the use of natural resource assets and human environmental impacts. We conclude with some thoughts on the meaning of sustainable prosperity and options for achieving this

Measurement of χ c1 and χ c2 production with s√ = 7 TeV pp collisions at ATLAS

The prompt and non-prompt production cross-sections for the χ c1 and χ c2 charmonium states are measured in pp collisions at s√ = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC using 4.5 fb−1 of integrated luminosity. The χ c states are reconstructed through the radiative decay χ c → J/ψγ (with J/ψ → μ + μ −) where photons are reconstructed from γ → e + e − conversions. The production rate of the χ c2 state relative to the χ c1 state is measured for prompt and non-prompt χ c as a function of J/ψ transverse momentum. The prompt χ c cross-sections are combined with existing measurements of prompt J/ψ production to derive the fraction of prompt J/ψ produced in feed-down from χ c decays. The fractions of χ c1 and χ c2 produced in b-hadron decays are also measured

Heavy-flavor production and medium properties in high-energy nuclear collisions --What next?

Open and hidden heavy-flavor physics in high-energy nuclear collisions are entering a new and exciting stage towards reaching a clearer understanding of the new experimental results with the possibility to link them directly to the advancement in lattice Quantum Chromo-Dynamics (QCD). Recent results from experiments and theoretical developments regarding open and hidden heavy-flavor dynamics have been debated at the Lorentz Workshop Tomography of the Quark-Gluon Plasma with Heavy Quarks, which was held in October 2016 in Leiden, The Netherlands. In this contribution, we summarize identified common understandings and developed strategies for the upcoming five years, which aim at achieving a profound knowledge of the dynamical properties of the quark-gluon plasma