The International Producer Price Index Manual (PPI Manual) published by the IMF in 2004, constituted a landmark for international standards on price measurement and contains detailed, comprehensive information for the compilation of producer price indices as well as an extensive coverage of the conceptual and theoretical issues. This Methodological Guide is a complement to the PPI Manual in two ways: it focuses on service-specific aspects in the PPI compilation by developing further the conceptual framework and it adds detailed descriptions of PPI measurement for a series of service industries.
This Guide has been jointly produced by the OECD, Eurostat and the members of a Taskforce with delegates from 19 OECD/EU Member countries: Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Malta, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States. Several countries contributed to the guide by providing descriptions of service PPIs for individual industries, other countries were represented by national experts in at least one meeting of the Task Force.
The general chapters in the Guide were written by members of the OECD and Eurostat Secretariats and under the guidance of the Task Force. On the side of the OECD, Seppo Varjonen has been the principal author and on the side of Eurostat, Isabelle Rémond-Tiedrez. Richard McKenzie (OECD) also contributed significantly as an author and as co-editor. Several individuals from countries made important contributions to the advancement of the report, in particular Kuniko Moriya (Bank of Japan), Aurél Kenessey de Kenese (CBS Netherlands), Jari Harjunpää (Statistics Finland) and Benoît Buisson (INSEE France).
The electronic version of the Guide is made available on both the OECD and Eurostat websites. The Taskforce views the Guide as a 'living document' that it will amend and update to incorporate additional service industries and to address particular points in greater detail. An editorial committee will be established for this purpose. It is hoped that this Guide will advance the development of services producer price indices in the OECD region and beyond with a view to provide better information for decision-making and analysis. The report is published jointly by OECD and Eurostat.