Time series and chain-linking

Time series

Price trends have been monitored and measured in Austria since the 18^th century. A weighting scheme was first calculated in 1912 in conjunction with a consumer survey among employee households in Vienna.

The Retail Trade Price Index 1938 (RPI) was actually only calculated from the year 1948 onwards and continued until February 1959. The weightings were based on the expenditure of a working-class family of four in Vienna. The consumer basket was divided into nine main groups. After that new CPI series were compiled in 1966, 1976, 1986, 1996, 2000 and 2005 each based on a Household Budget Survey conducted in the year t-1. With the publication of the CPI 2010 twelve different index series based on the national concept are available. The most important change introduced by the CPI 2010 was that, in conformity with an international standard, the traditional method was replaced by using a chainindex. The 2009/2010 Household Budget Survey provided the data for the weights of this new index series.

Chain-linking

Pre-existing CPI series are traditionally chained so that historical time series can be directly compared with actual price trends. In this way price index series for long time periods are established enabling users to observe historical price trends and to apply them for indexation of long-term contractual monetary claims. Specifically, this means that the familiar CPI series continue to be calculated along the lines of the CPI 2010 and the given chaining coefficients (available only on the German Website).

Please consult our German Website for tables containing further information.

• Table(s)
• Press releases
• General information service

Consumer Price Indices from 1990 to 2010

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