Topics

Topic 1: Price statistics and housing market

This topic includes the experiences gathered and difficulties faced by measuring aggregate price movements on the housing market. Important issues are the concept of a rent price index; the problem of integration of new constructions and quality adjustments; the treatment of owner occupied housing in a consumer price index and the concept of a house price index. It can deal as well with questions about the optimal design of a price index for housing services within a consumer price index.

Topic 2: Weighting: quality, frequency of update, reference period, and price-updating

The weights of goods and services that are used for the basket of a consumer price index have a great impact on its outcomes. What is the quality of the weights? What is the optimal frequency of their renewal? What is the role of implicit weighting? Should the weights be price-updated from the weight reference period to the price reference period or not? In other words, is a Lowe index to be preferred to a Young index? How to measure the impact of errors or (statistical) uncertainty in weights on the overall CPI?

Topic 3: Price measurement for "hard to follow” products

This topic includes questions about fashion products (clothing) and services provided, for example in the health, insurance, telecommunications or financial sector. All such “hard to follow” products raise many conceptual and practical issues: for example, estimating the value (utility) of a service, the influence of substitution, and how to deal with quality adjustments.

Topic 4: New developments in calculation methods

From elementary aggregates to higher aggregation levels, the study of calculation methods and index formulas is of great importance: to what extent different formulas can lead to different outcomes. What is the importance of including retrospective calculation of superlative indices? For this specific topic there is also room for the development of new aggregation formulas.

Topic 5: Core inflation: from calculation to interpretation

The interest in so-called core inflation has increased with the emergence of higher rates of inflation. What, precisely, should be understood by the concept of core inflation? What are the possibilities of measurement, analysis, and interpretation? What are the roles of food and energy prices in this context? 

Topic 6: Globalisation and specialisation

It seems that globalisation calls for supranational measures of price development. But there is also demand for price indices for (small) population groups. To which degree should this demand be fulfilled given limited budgets? What is, or should be, the role of the various institutions?