Guadeloupe
Official title
Indice des prix à la consommation des ménages en milieu urbain
(Consumer Price Index - Urban households).
Scope
The index is compiled monthly and relates to urban households.
Official base
April 1978 - March 1979 = 100.
Source of weights
The weights and selected items were derived from a household expenditure
survey conducted from September to December 1972 in Basse-Terre and
Pointe-à-Pitre. The results were extrapolated on the assumption that
consumption patterns in France and Guadeloupe evolved in a similar way
from 1972 to 1978.
:hp4.Weights and composition:ehp4.
| Major groups
| Number of items
| Weights
| Approximate number of price quotations
|
| Food
| 66 | 34.39 | ...
|
| Restaurants
| 8 | 2.34 | ...
|
| Clothing and footwear
| 37 | 9.25 | ...
|
| Housing:
|
| Rent
| 1 | 10.06 | ...
|
| Maintenance and repairs
| 3 | 2.49 | ...
|
| Furniture, furnishings and household equipment
| 24 | 6.02 | ...
|
| Fuel, light and water
| 5 | 5.72 | ...
|
| Personal and medical care and domestic services
| 14 | 6.80 | ...
|
| Transport
| 19 | 16.34 | ...
|
| Education and recreation
| 21 | 6.59 | ...
|
| Total
| 198 | 100.00 | 3500
|
Household consumption expenditure
Only direct purchases of consumer goods and services are taken into
account. The following expenditure is excluded: investments designed to
maintain or increase the value of property, and transfers (income tax,
social security contributions, etc.) which include amounts deducted from
the income of certain households for redistribution among others either
directly (social security benefits) or in the form of services provided
free of charge to households (services provided by the administration,
education, road network, etc.).
Method of data collection
Prices for most items are collected each month by agents from markets,
retail outlets and service establishments in Basse-Terre and
Pointe-à-Pitre. Prices for fish, fresh fruit and vegetables are
collected each week. When there are both official and free-market
prices for the same item, account is taken only of the official prices,
except for public transport (taxis and buses) for which median prices
are calculated on the basis of the free-market prices. The index is
then calculated using these median prices. Discounts and reductions are
not taken into account. Sale prices are collected as though they were
the usual prices.
Housing
Rent quotations are obtained twice a year for 99 rented dwellings
of all kinds.
Specification of varieties
There are few specifications for homogeneous varieties; for
heterogeneous varieties, the size, brand, model, etc., are
specified.
Substitution, quality change, etc.
If the characteristics are exactly the same, the new item
replaces the old one without breaking the series. If there
is a difference in quality between the substitute article and the
one it is replacing, linking is carried out so that only
the part of the price variation that is caused by the normal
evolution of prices is taken into account. For certain items
of clothing, especially women's clothing, the most common quality
characteristics are defined. The prices of all these items
are then collected and the median price is used to calculate the
index for this sub-group.
Seasonal items
Account is taken of seasonal fluctuations in the prices of fresh
fruit, vegetables and fish by varying the items and their
weights within the monthly baskets
whose overall weights remain
constant.
Computation
The index is computed according to the Laspeyres formula as a
weighted arithmetic average with fixed base, using weights
corresponding to the base period.
Organisation and publication
INSEE, Service départemental de la Guadeloupe: Bulletin de
statistique
(Basse-Terre).
Idem: Les cahiers de l'INSEE - Dossier prix
(Basse-Terre,
first quarter, 1979).