The increasing deflationary influence of consumer digital access services

David Byrne and Carol Corrado

Economics Letters, 2020, vol. 196, issue C

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: Inflation; Digital access services (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E3 O3 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Working Paper: The Increasing Deflationary Influence of Consumer Digital Access Services (2020)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:196:y:2020:i:c:s0165176520302779

DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2020.109447

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