International Productivity Monitor (Sep 2019)
Consistency Issues in the Construction of Annual and Quarterly Productivity Indices
Abstract
Productivity change is generally measured in index form as ratio of output quantity index over input quantity index. Several statistical agencies publish quarterly as well as annual productivity indices, constructed from what appear to be basically the same sources. This raises the question whether, apart from measurement errors, consistency between quarterly and annual indices can be expected. This article explores, from a theoretical perspective, the options for obtaining consistency between annual and quarterly (or more general: between period and sub-period) measures of productivity change.