Measuring Inflation Expectations Using Interval-Coded Data

To quantify qualitative survey data, the Carlson-Parkin method assumes normality, a time-invariant symmetric indifference interval, and long-run unbiased expectations. Interval-coded data do not require these assumptions. Since April 2004, the Monthly Consumer Confidence Survey in Japan asks households their price expectations a year ahead in seven categories with partially known boundaries; thus one can identify up to six parameters including an indifference interval each month. This paper compares normal, skew normal, and skew t distributions, and finds that the skew t distribution fits the best throughout the period studied. The results help to understand the dynamics of heterogeneous expectations.