Abstract
It is shown how the Bennet indicator (or ``index'') can be made transitive. This is particular useful for making consistent (profit, cost, price, quantity) comparisons between firms when there are more than two firms and/or more than two periods. The method is given both statistical and economic justifications.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
B. M. Balk (1996) ArticleTitleA Comparison of Ten Methods for Multilateral International Price and Volume Comparisons Journal of Official Statistics 12 199–222
Balk, B. M. (1999) ‘‘On the Decomposition of Cost Variation’’. Presented at the 2000 North American Productivity Workshop, Union College.
Balk, B. M. (2001) ‘‘Aggregation Methods in International Comparisons: What Have We Learned?’’. Report Series Research in Management ERS-2001-41- MKT (Erasmus Research Institute of Management, Erasmus University Rotterdam).
B. M. Balk R. Färe S. Grosskopf (2004) ArticleTitleThe Theory of Price and Quantity Indicators Economic Theory 23 149–164
T. L. Bennet (1920) ArticleTitle The Theory of Measurement of Changes in Cost of Living Journal of the Royal Statistics Society 83 455–462
D. W. Caves L. R. Christensen W. E. Diewert (1982) ArticleTitleMultilateral Comparisons of Output, Input, and Producitivity Using Superlative Index Numbers The Economic Journal 92 73–86
R. G. Chambers (1998) Input and Output Indicators R. Färe S. Grosskopf R. R. Russell (Eds) Index Numbers: Essays in Honor of Sten Malmquist Kluwer Academic Publishers Amsterdam
R. G. Chambers (2001) ArticleTitleConsumers' Surplus as an Exact and Superlative Welfare Indicator International Economic Review 42 105–120 Occurrence Handle10.1111/1468-2354.00102
R.G. Chambers (2002) ArticleTitleExact Nonradial Input, Output, and Productivity Measurement Economic Theory 20 751–765 Occurrence Handle10.1007/s001990100231
R. G. Chambers R. D. Pope (1996) ArticleTitleAggregate Productivity Measures American Journal of Agricultural Economics 78 1360–1365
J. R. Cuthbert (2003) ArticleTitleOn the Variance/Covariance Structure of the Log Fisher Index, and Implications for Aggregation Techniques Review of Income and Wealth 49 69–88 Occurrence Handle10.1111/1475-4991.00075
W. E. Diewert (1976) ArticleTitleExact and Superlative Index Numbers Journal of Econometrics 4 114–145 Occurrence Handle10.1016/0304-4076(76)90009-9
W. E. Diewert (1993) The Early History of Price Index Research W. E. Diewert A. O. Nakaura (Eds) Essays in Index Number Theory Amsterdam North-Holland
W. E. Diewert (1999) Axiomatic and Economic Approaches to International Comparisons A. Heston R. E. Lipsey (Eds) International and Interarea Comparisons of Income, Output and Prices Chicago University Press Chicago
W. E. Diewert (2005) ArticleTitleIndex Number Theory Using Differences Rather Than Ratios American Journal of Economics and Sociology 64 IssueID1 347–395 Occurrence Handle10.1111/j.1536-7150.2005.00365.x
Ö. Eltetö P. Köves (1964) ArticleTitleOne Index Computation Problem of International Comparisons (in Hungarian) Statisztikai Szemle 7 507–518
I. Fisher (1922) The Making of Index Numbers Houghton-Mifflin Boston
K. J. Fox (2003) ArticleTitleAn Economic Justification for the EKS Multilateral Index Review of Income and Wealth 49 407–413 Occurrence Handle10.1111/1475-4991.00095
Geary R. G. (1958) ‘‘A Note on Comparisons of Exchange Rates and Purchasing Power between Countries’’. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society A: 97–99.
C. Gini (1931) ArticleTitleOn the Circular Test of Index Numbers Metron 4 3–162
E. Grifell-Tatjé C. A. K. Lovell (2000) ArticleTitleCost and Productivity Managerial and Decision Economics 21 19–30 Occurrence Handle10.1002/1099-1468(200001/02)21:1<19::AID-MDE962>3.0.CO;2-7
E. Grifell-Tatjé C. A. K. Lovell (2003) ArticleTitleThe Managers versus the Consultants Scandinavian Journal of Economics 105 IssueID1 119–138
R. J. Hill (1997) ArticleTitleA Taxonomy of Multilateral Methods for Making International Comparisons of Prices and Quantities Review of Income and Wealth 43 IssueID1 49–69 Occurrence Handle10.1111/j.1475-4991.1997.tb00200.x
R. J. Hill (2001) ArticleTitleMeasuring Inflation and Growth Using Spanning Trees International Economic Review 42 167–185 Occurrence Handle10.1111/1468-2354.00105
Khamis S. H. (1972) ‘‘A New System of Index Numbers for National and International Purposes’’. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society A: 96–121.
Montgomery J. K. (1929) ‘‘Is There a Theoretically Correct Price Index of a Group of Commodities?’’ Rome: Roma L’Universale Tipogr. Poliglotta (privately printed paper, 16 pages).
P. A. Samuelson S. Swamy (1974) ArticleTitleInvariant Economic Index Numbers and Canonical Duality: Survey and Synthesis American Economic Review 64 566–593
B. Szulc (1964) ArticleTitleIndices for Multiregional Comparisons Przeglad, Statystyzcny 3 239–254
L. Törnqvist (1936) ArticleTitleThe Bank of Finland's Consumption Price Index Bank of Finland Monthly Bulletin 10 1–8
M. Veelen Particlevan (2002) ArticleTitleAn Impossibility Theorem Concerning Multilateral International Comparisons of Volumes Econometrica 70 369–375 Occurrence Handle10.1111/1468-0262.00280
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Fox, K.J. A Method for Transitive and Additive Multilateral Comparisons: A Transitive Bennet Indicator. J Econ 87, 73–87 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00712-005-0160-8
Received:
Revised:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00712-005-0160-8