Эконометрические оценки гедонических индексов цен на персональные компьютеры в России: пример рынка г. Екатеринбурга

Economist have noted for decades that Consumer Price Index (CPI) in the developed countries is overstating inflation by 0,5-2,0% per year. A significant part of such a bias is found to be caused by the presence of technology products and differentiated products in CPI. An increasing weight of these products in the Russian CPI may also lead to a substantial upward bias. Nowadays hedonic indices are believed to be the most efficient way to reduce the bias. Following Triplett we have developed the taxonomy of hedonic price indices within the “direct approach”. This first step is essential in constructing a detailed set of hedonic price indices. They can be used in two ways: to estimate the bias in CPI and to elaborate alternative official price indices for IT-products. We've estimated 11% fall of price for personal computers in 2005 with the usage of hedonic price indices, a 11-23% positive bias in price index for PC in Russia was also calculated. We also have found that Russian CPI could be upward biased by 0,12-0,23% per year due to new goods and quality change effects for PC.