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The Generalized Unit Value Index Family

Review of Income and Wealth

Published online on

Abstract

This study introduces a group of Generalized Unit Value indices that evaluate price level changes. The approach is to transform the original price and quantity data into numbers that all relate to a common unit which provides the same intrinsic worth to the consumers. When, in the transformed data, an equivalence of worth is present, then even incommensurables can be aggregated by the standard unit value method. The group of Generalized Unit Value indices includes some well‐known (Laspeyres, Paasche, Banerjee), barely known (Lehr, Davies), and previously quite unknown price indices. Using a Generalized Unit Value price index as a deflator yields a particularly appealing and useful quantity index.