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Activity Number:
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513
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Type:
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Contributed
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Date/Time:
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Thursday, August 10, 2006 : 8:30 AM to 10:20 AM
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Sponsor:
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Business and Economics Statistics Section
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| Abstract - #305546 |
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Title:
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Diseased-Based Price Index: a Cure Worse Than the Disease
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Author(s):
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Ralph Bradley*+
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Companies:
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Bureau of Labor Statistics
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Address:
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2 Massachusettes Ave., NE, Washington, DC, 20212,
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Keywords:
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price indexes ; hedonic adjustments
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Abstract:
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Many economists recommend the Bureau of Labor Statistics change its Medical CPI (MCPI) so it indexes the cost of treating disease, rather than the use of medical inputs. This study shows this proposed solution introduces more errors than it reduces. Many of the assumptions behind this recommendation are wrong, and the inability to correctly match all treatments with a diagnosis and the incidence of diagnostic error make it inferior.
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