However, I see no other way to solve this problem. Incidentally, the remaining measurement bias is not likely to be very large, since fundamental product innovations tend to be rare. All in all the just mentioned 0.1 per cent provision seems to be adequate. The major problem of new product variants, and thus of adjusting for quality differences when replacing obsolete items remains.
And this is a big issue in an environment marked by rapid product innovations. And here I do not envy the statistical offices their jobs. Our research for Germany has shown that, in practice, even uniform quality adjustment methods lead to diverging results depending on the individual “price collector”. Therefore, centralisation of quality adjustment is the path often proposed.