Heavy discounting of the now less fashionable older editions could create downward bias in traditional indices.4 Similarly pricing online services poses a number of challenges. For example, in the past consumers would buy premade package holidays from a travel agent. Nowadays, online services permit households to create their own packages. This task is more and more outsourced by the agencies, i.e.
they reduce their cost; and accepted by the customers. Measuring – and pricing – the value of that service is not always transparent. This complicates the proper inclusion of the economic activity undertaken into national accounts. Indeed, in the absence of a measurable transaction, it would normally be beyond the scope of consumer price indices.