TY - BOOK ID - 1285896 TI - The measurement of durable goods prices PY - 1990 SN - 0226304558 9786611223533 1281223530 0226304604 9780226304601 PB - Chicago : University of Chicago Press, DB - UniCat KW - Prices KW - United States KW - Indices de prix KW - Price indexes KW - Prijsindexen KW - Prijzen KW - Prix KW - 338.5 KW - 338.528 KW - Commercial products KW - Commodity prices KW - Justum pretium KW - Price theory KW - Consumption (Economics) KW - Cost KW - Costs, Industrial KW - Money KW - Cost and standard of living KW - Supply and demand KW - Value KW - Wages KW - Willingness to pay KW - Price indices KW - Index numbers (Economics) KW - Prijsvorming. Prijskostenverhouding. Prijsbeweging. Prijsfluctuatie--macroeconomisch; prijsindex zie {336.748.12} KW - 338.5 Prijsvorming. Prijskostenverhouding. Prijsbeweging. Prijsfluctuatie--macroeconomisch; prijsindex zie {336.748.12} KW - E-books KW - Price indexes. KW - Prices. KW - social sciences, american business, united states of america, usa, businesses, companies, inflation, inflated prices, pricing, competition, competing, internationalism, international markets, marketing, buying and selling, quality, equipment, productivity, consumer goods, efficient, efficiency, automobiles, cars, airlines, aircrafts, computers, technology, compressors, televisions, tvs, tractors, technological progress, costs. KW - United States of America UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:1285896 AB - American business has recently been under fire, charged with inflated pricing and an inability to compete in the international marketplace. However, the evidence presented in this volume shows that the business community has been unfairly maligned-official measures of inflation and the standard of living have failed to account for progress in the quality of business equipment and consumer goods. Businesses have actually achieved higher productivity at lower prices, and new goods are lighter, faster, more energy efficient, and more reliable than their predecessors. Robert J. Gordon has written the first full-scale work to treat the extent of quality changes over the entire range of durable goods, from autos to aircraft, computers to compressors, from televisions to tractors. He combines and extends existing methods of measurement, drawing data from industry sources, Consumer Reports, and the venerable Sears catalog. Beyond his important finding that the American economy is more sound than officially recognized, Gordon provides a wealth of anecdotes tracing the postwar history of technological progress. Bolstering his argument that improved quality must be accurately measured, Gordon notes, for example, that today's mid-range personal computers outperform the multimillion-dollar mainframes of the 1970's. This remarkable book will be essential reading for economists and those in the business community. ER -