Communications Equipment: What Has Happened to Prices?

FRB of San Francisco Working Paper No. 2003-15

54 Pages Posted: 27 May 2004

See all articles by Mark E. Doms

Mark E. Doms

Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco

Date Written: June 2003

Abstract

This paper examines the prices for communications equipment, an important component of information technology. Unlike prices for computers which officially fall sharply every year, the official prices for communications equipment have barely budged over the past decade. This paper combines earlier work on prices for several segments of communications equipment with new results for public exchanges, fiber optic equipment, and modems. The results suggest that prices for communications equipment fall much faster than official statistics would indicate, but not as fast as computers. The results presented in this paper, if incorporated into the NIPAs, would decrease MFP growth by about 0.1 percentage point per year and increase the contribution of capital deepening by a likewise amount. Also, GDP growth would be boosted marginally.

Keywords: Telecommunication, prices

JEL Classification: L63, 03

Suggested Citation

Doms, Mark E., Communications Equipment: What Has Happened to Prices? (June 2003). FRB of San Francisco Working Paper No. 2003-15, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=550426 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.550426

Mark E. Doms (Contact Author)

Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco ( email )

101 Market Street
San Francisco, CA 94105
United States

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