The Increasing Deflationary Influence of Consumer Digital Access Services

David Byrne and Carol Corrado

No 2020-021r1, Finance and Economics Discussion Series from Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.)

Abstract: Consumer digital access services—internet, mobile phone, cable TV, and streaming—accounted for over 2 percent of U.S. household consumption in 2018. We construct prices for these services using direct measures of volume (data transmitted, talk time, and hours of programming). Our price index fell 12 percent per year from 1988 to 2018 while official prices moved up modestly. Using our digital services index, we estimate total personal consumption expenditure (PCE) prices have risen nearly 1/2 percentage point slower than the official index since 2008. Importantly, the spread between alternative and official PCE price inflation has increased noticeably over time.

Keywords: Price measurement; Consumer digital services; Innovation; Information and Communication Technology (ICT); National accounting (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E31 L86 O33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 23 p.
Date: 2020-02-26, Revised 2020-03-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ict, nep-mac and nep-pay
Note: Revision
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Related works:
Journal Article: The increasing deflationary influence of consumer digital access services (2020)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:fip:fedgfe:2020-21

DOI: 10.17016/FEDS.2020.021r1

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