Prescription Drug Prices: Official Index Overstates Producer Price Inflation

摘要

During the 1980s and 1990s, the prices of prescription drugs rose on average attriple the rate of economywide inflation, according to federal government statistics. As the Congress debated whether to curb drug price increases, however, research questioning the accuracy of the price statistics--especially the producer price index for prescription drugs (PPI-Drugs) published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)--was in its early stages. Today, a body of research has accumulated that emphasizes common misuses of price indexes.