The economics of new goods

• Main Authors: Bresnahan, Timothy F, Gordon, Robert J
• Format: eBook
• Language: English
• Published: Chicago University of Chicago Press 1997
• Edition: 1
• Subjects: Congresses; Consumer price indexes; New products

New goods are at the heart of economic progress. The eleven essays in this volume include historical treatments of new goods and their diffusion; practical exercises in measurement addressed to recent and ongoing innovations; and real-world methods of devising quantitative adjustments for quality ch...

Table of Contents:

• The economics of new goods -- Contents -- Prefatory Note -- Introduction -- I Historical Reassessments of Economic Progress -- 1 Do Real-Output and Real-Wage Measures Capture Reality? The History of Lighting Suggests NotWilliam D. Nordhaus -- 2 Quality-Adjusted Prices for the American Automobile Industry: 1906-1940Daniel M. G. Raff and Manuel Trajtenberg -- 3 The Welfare Implications of InventionWalter Y. Oi -- 4 Science, Health, and Household Technology: The Effect of the Pasteur Revolution on Consumer DemandJoel Mokyr and Rebecca Stein -- II Contemporary Product Studies -- 5 Valuation of New Goods under Perfect and Imperfect CompetitionJerry A. Hausman -- 6 Bias in U.S. Import Prices and DemandRobert C. Feenstra and Clinton R. Shiells -- 7 The Roles of Marketing, Product Quality, and Price Competition in the Growth and Composition of the U.S. Antiulcer Drug IndustryErnst R. Berndt, Linda T. Bui, David H. Lucking-Reiley,and Glen L. Urban -- 8 From Superminis to Supercomputers: Estimating Surplus in the Computing MarketShane M. Greenstein -- III Measurement Practice in Official Price Indexes -- 9 New Products and the U.S. Consumer Price IndexPaul A. Armknecht, Walter F. Lane, and Kenneth J. Stewart -- 10 The Construction of Basic Components of Cost-of-Living IndexesMarshall B. Reinsdorf and Brent R. Moulton -- 11 New Goods from the Perspective of Price Index Making in Canada and JapanAndrew Baldwin, Pierre Despris, Alice Nakamura, and Masao Nakamura -- Contributors -- Name Index -- Subject Index
• Intro -- The Economics of New Goods -- Contents -- Prefatory Note -- Introduction -- I. Historical Reassessments of Economic Progress -- 1. Do Real-Output and Real-Wage Measures Capture Reality? The History of Lighting Suggests Not -- 2. Quality-Adjusted Prices for the American Automobile Industry: 1906-1940 -- 3. The Welfare Implications of Invention -- 4. Science, Health, and Household Technology: The Effect of the Pasteur Revolution on Consumer Demand -- II. Contemporary Product Studies -- 5. Valuation of New Goods under Perfect and Imperfect Competition -- 6. Bias in U.S. Import Prices and Demand -- 7. The Roles of Marketing, Product Quality, and Price Competition in the Growth and Composition of the U.S. Antiulcer Drug Industry -- 8. From Superminis to Supercomputers: Estimating Surplus in the Computing Market -- III. Measurement Practice in Official Price Indexes -- 9. New Products and the U.S. Consumer Price Index -- 10. The Construction of Basic Components of Cost-of-Living Indexes -- 11. New Goods from the Perspective of Price Index Making in Canada and Japan -- Contributors -- Name Index -- Subject Index