Scandinavian Working Papers in Economics

Discussion Paper Series in Economics,
Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Economics

No 25/2018: Why 1990 international Geary-Khamis dollars cannot be a foundation for reliable long run comparisons of GDP

Liam Brunt () and Antonio Fidalgo
Additional contact information
Liam Brunt: Dept. of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration, Postal: NHH , Department of Economics, Helleveien 30, N-5045 Bergen, Norway
Antonio Fidalgo: Fresenius University of Applied Sciences

Abstract: Using a large, new dataset of agricultural prices and quantities for many countries and regions, we create five new international Geary-Khamis pounds – for 1870, 1845, 1775, 1705, and a superior chained series. We show that estimated levels and changes in output per worker look very different – more extreme – using 1705 international pounds and 1990 international dollars, compared to all other series; growth rates appear substantially higher using 1990 international dollars. In short, out-of-sample baskets and/or prices create extremely unreliable output estimates. We also show that individual country price indices (rather than international indices) can generate substantially different estimated growth rates.

Keywords: Geary-Khamis prices; economic growth; international comparisons; price indices

JEL-codes: C43; C82; N10; N50

14 pages, November 28, 2018

Full text files 

2575366 PDF-file Full text

Download statistics

Questions (including download problems) about the papers in this series should be directed to Synne Stormoen ()
Report other problems with accessing this service to Sune Karlsson ().

RePEc:hhs:nhheco:2018_025This page generated on 2025-02-10 09:49:47.