New Products and the Index of Industrial Production

In: The journal of development studies: JDS, Band 16, Heft 4, S. 463-467

Abstract

The treatment of new products (industries) in the compilation of the index of industrial production is discussed. In short, their contribution is either completely ignored or only haphazardly accounted for, & this often produces a serious downward bias in the index. The problem is particularly important where major new industries are introduced. A new method is proposed & its implementation discussed. Empirical results for Tanzania & Iraq illustrate the importance of this problem for developing countries. Modified HA.