Data on the levels of gross liability have to be interpreted carefully because they reflect the degree of consolidation of the economic entities they cover. Were each of our fifty states considered as a separate economy, for example, interstate claims would add to both U.S. and world totals without affecting U.S. or world GDP.
But, as already noted, the pass-through effects onto the CPI are likely to be quite muted. Although evidence could be found of near-complete pass-through of exchange rate changes into the prices of homogeneous and widely traded goods such as oil and other primary commodities, evidence for highly differentiated manufactured goods and speciality products was hard to find.