Export and Import Price Index Manual: Theory and Practice

The Manual contains detailed, comprehensive information and explanations for compiling XMPIs. It provides an overview of the conceptual and theoretical issues that statistical offices should consider when making decisions on how to deal with various problems in the daily compilation of XMPIs, and it is intended for use by both developed and developing countries.

The chapters cover many topics; they elaborate on the different practices currently in use, propose alternatives whenever possible, and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each alternative. Given the comprehensive nature of the Manual, we expect it to satisfy the needs of many users.



The main purpose of the Manual is to assist producers of XMPIs, particularly countries that are revising or setting up their XMPIs. The Manual draws on a wide range of experience and expertise in an attempt to describe practical and suitable measurement methods. It should also help countries to produce their XMPIs in a comparable way, so that statistical offices and international organizations can make meaningful international comparisons. Because it brings together a large body of knowledge on the subject, the Manual may be used for self-learning or as a teaching tool for training courses on XMPIs.

Contents
Foreword
Preface
Reader’s Guide

1. A Summary of Export and Import Price Index Methodology
2. Unit Value Indices
3. The Price and Volume of International Trade: Background, Purpose,and Uses of Export and Import Price Indices
4. Coverage, Valuation, and Classifications
5. Data Sources
6. Sampling Issues in Price Collection
7. Price Collection
8. Treatment of Quality Change
9. Commodity Substitution, Sample Space, and New Goods
10. XMPI Calculation in Practice
11. Treatment of Specific Products and Issues
12. Errors and Bias in XMPIs
13. Organization and Management
14. Publication, Dissemination, and User Relations
15. The System of Price Statistics
16. Basic Index Number Theory
17. Axiomatic and Stochastic Approaches to Index Number Theory
18. Economic Approach
19. Transfer Prices
20. Exports and Imports from Production and Expenditure Approaches and Associated Price Indices Using a Simplified Example and an Artificial Data Set
21. Elementary Indices
22. Quality Change and Hedonics
23. Treatment of Seasonal Products
24. Measuring the Effects of Changes in the Terms of Trade
Glossary
Bibliography
Index