The OECD collects and disseminates a range of indicators of price change. The principle indicators are GDP price deflators, consumer price indices (CPIs), producer price indices (PPIs) and construction price indices.

Price indices are key economic indicators used extensively by both government and non-government analysts to observe: changes in the rate of inflation and cost of living; price movements and price formation at the level of industry branches or commodities; and escalation of pensions/wages and price and wage adjustments in contracts. They are also used for the deflation of national accounts.

Purchasing Power Parities (PPPs) are currency conversion rates that both convert to a common currency and equalise the purchasing power of different currencies. In other words, they eliminate the differences in price levels between countries in the process of conversion.

Under the Joint OECD-Eurostat PPP Programme, the OECD and Eurostat share the responsibility for calculating PPPs. The division of responsibilities between the two organisers has changed with each successive round. For the 1999 round, the OECD co-ordinated the data collection in its seven non-European Member Countries plus Croatia, Israel, Macedonia, the Russian Federation and Ukraine.