--- canonical_url: "https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-12/the-boskin-commission-report-after-a-decade/" title: "The Boskin Commission Report After a Decade" author: name: "CSLS" url: "https://csls.ca/author/cslc/" date_published: "2026-07-13T06:53:29+00:00" date_modified: "2026-07-13T06:53:29+00:00" post_type: "ipm" summary: "" ipm_issue_period: - "Spring 2006" ipm_keyword: - "Boskin Commission" - "CPI" - "CPI classifications" - "international impact" - "Ottawa Group" - "price measurement" - "quality change bias" - "substitution bias" ipm_research_theme: - "Measurement and methodology" ipm_country_focus: - "International" - "OECD" - "United States" featured_image: "https://csls.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/IPM_50_banner.webp" status: "publish" --- # The Boskin Commission Report After a Decade Canonical URL: https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-12/the-boskin-commission-report-after-a-decade/ # The Boskin Commission Report After a Decade [Download full PDF article](https://csls.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/IPM-Issue-12-4-Triplett.pdf) Cite this article × Cite this article as: Triplett, Jack. 2006. “The Boskin Commission Report After a Decade.” International Productivity Monitor, No. 12 (Spring 2006): 42–60. https://www.csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-12/the-boskin-commission-report-after-a-decade/ ## Author: - Jack Triplett Brookings Institution ## IPM Issue 12 Spring 2006 pp. 42–60 ## Related IPM articles [Data for Productivity Measurement in Market Services: An International Comparison Robert Inklaar, Marcel Timmer, Bart van Ark Spring 2008 | IPM Issue 16 | pp. 71–81](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-16/data-for-productivity-measurement-in-market-services-an-international-comparison/) [Productivity and Sustainable Consumption in OECD Countries: 1980-2005 Dean Baker, David Rosnick Fall 2007 | IPM Issue 15 | pp. 41–54](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-15/productivity-and-sustainable-consumption-in-oecd-countries-1980-2005/) [The Boskin Commission Report After a Decade: After-life or Requiem? Ernst Berndt Spring 2006 | IPM Issue 12 | pp. 61–73](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-12/the-boskin-commission-report-after-a-decade-after-life-or-requiem/) [Policy Implications of the Boskin Commission Report Martin Baily Spring 2006 | IPM Issue 12 | pp. 74–83](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-12/policy-implications-of-the-boskin-commission-report/) [The BLS Response to the Boskin Commission Report John Greenlees Spring 2006 | IPM Issue 12 | pp. 23–41](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-12/the-bls-response-to-the-boskin-commission-report/) [IPM Issue 12 Editor’s Overview Andrew Sharpe Spring 2006 | IPM Issue 12 | pp. 1–4](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-12/) [The Boskin Commission Report After a Decade: Introduction to the Symposium and Implications for Productivity Jack Triplett Spring 2006 | IPM Issue 12 | pp. 5–6](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-12/the-boskin-commission-report-after-a-decade-introduction-to-the-symposium-and-implications-for-productivity/) [The Boskin Commission Report: A Retrospective One Decade Later Robert Gordon Spring 2006 | IPM Issue 12 | pp. 7–22](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-12/the-boskin-commission-report-a-retrospective-one-decade-later/) [Efficiency Adjustment of Hours Worked: Two Possible Modifications of a Jorgensen Production Model Barbara Fraumeni Fall 2025 | IPM Issue 49 | pp. 103–115](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-49/efficiency-adjustment-of-hours-worked-two-possible-modifications-of-a-jorgensen-production-model/) [Labour Productivity as a Measure of Technological Change Ulrich Kohli Fall 2025 | IPM Issue 49 | pp. 64–81](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-49/labour-productivity-as-a-measure-of-technological-change/) ## Abstract ## Résumé EN FR Copy link Email LinkedIn This article assesses the Boskin Commission Report’s worldwide influence, its parts that have and have not stood up to scrutiny, and its neglected recommendation on CPI classifications. The author highlights the Commission’s international impact — triggering external reviews of CPIs in countries that had never before subjected their price statistics to outside scrutiny — while noting that the Commission’s analysis of quality change bias may have overstated the upward bias by not allowing for the possibility of over-adjustment, and that the Commission’s treatment of basic CPI components has been superseded by more recent research on consumer search behaviour. Cet article évalue l’influence mondiale du rapport de la Commission Boskin, ses parties qui ont résisté à l’examen et celles qui ne l’ont pas été, ainsi que sa recommandation négligée sur les classifications de l’IPC. L’auteur met en évidence l’impact international de la Commission — ayant déclenché des examens externes des IPC dans des pays qui n’avaient jamais soumis leurs statistiques de prix à un examen externe — tout en notant que l’analyse du biais de changement de qualité par la Commission peut avoir surestimé le biais à la hausse en ne tenant pas compte de la possibilité d’un surajustement, et que le traitement des composantes de base de l’IPC par la Commission a été supplanté par des recherches plus récentes sur le comportement de recherche des consommateurs. [Download full PDF](https://csls.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/IPM-Issue-12-4-Triplett.pdf)