Review of Hedonic Quality Adjustment in UK and International Consumer Price Statistics

Hedonic quality adjustment was first introduced in the UK Consumer Prices Index in 2003 for PCs. The article reviews its use in the UK and internationally, covering five additional technology products like smartphones and tablets. It details a methodological change for pay-as-you-go phones and digital cameras from March 2014.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the evolution of hedonic quality adjustment methods based on the review of its introduction and expansion since 2003.
• Comparing UK and international practices in consumer price indices based on the article's international review scope.
• Studying methodological changes in price statistics based on the switch from hedonic adjustment to class mean imputation for specific products in 2014.

Strengths

• Produced by the Office for National Statistics, a designated National Statistics authority.
• Provides a specific timeline for methodological changes, such as the shift in March 2014.

Limitations

• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.

Provenance

Source

Office for National Statistics

Collection Method

Likely contains analysis and review of official statistical methods.

Time Range

Covers developments from 2003 onwards, with a specific change noted from March 2014.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-07-08 13:31:08.939643; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Primarily United Kingdom, with international comparisons.