MEASURING AMERICAN RENTS: A REVISIONIST HISTORY

摘要: Until the end of 1977, method used to measure changes in rent primary residence U.S. consumer price index (CPI) tended omit when units changed tenants or were temporarily vacant. Since such typically had more rapid increases rents than average units, omitting them biased inflation estimates downward. Beginning 1978, Bureau Labor Statistics (BLS) implemented a series methodological that reduced this bias. The authors use data from American Housing Survey check success corrections. They compare historical adjusted for BLS methodology with new hedonic estimate rental rates. conclude 1940 1977 CPI would have been about 60 percent higher if current practices – between 1.3 and 3.5 percentage points. Even after corrections made, authors' suggest may still understate rate by one-half 1 point.