gdp deflator

In economics, the GDP deflator (implicit price deflator for GDP) is a price index measuring changes in prices of all new, domestically produced, final goods and services in an economy. GDP stands for gross domestic product, the total value of all goods and services produced within that economy during a specified period. The GDP deflator is not based on a fixed market basket of goods and services. The basket is allowed to change with people's consumption and investment patterns. Therefore, new expenditure patterns are allowed to show up in the deflator as people respond to changing prices. A simple GDP deflator formula goes like this:

\mbox{GDP deflator in } % = {\mbox{current year GDP} \over \mbox{base year GDP}} \times 100

Calculation

United States

The GDP and GDP deflator are calculated by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA).

Hedonics

United States

Steve Milunovich of Merrill Lynch noted in a February 2004 report that the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), whose job it is to compute the Gross Domestic Product each quarter, has "stopped reporting the real computer hardware shipment figure used to calculate real GDP growth, though it is still used in GDP calculations." The BEA, which is part of the Commerce Department, made this readjustment because it is "concerned the rapid price declines for computers made the figures misleading." The computer-spending component has warped GDP calculations in many of the last eight quarters. From the second quarter of 2000 through the fourth quarter of 2003, the government estimated that real tech spending rose from $446 billion to $557 billion, when nominal spending only increased to $488 billion. That extra $72 billion represents the value the government imagines the improvement in computer quality is worth.