The Making of Tests for Index Numbers

Arthur Vogt has devoted a great deal of his scientific efforts to both person and work of Irving Fisher. This book, written with Jànos Barta, gives an excellent impression of Fisher's great contributions to the theory of the price index on the one hand. On the other hand, it continues Fisher's work on this subject along the lines which several authors drew with respect to price index theory since Fisher's death fifty years ago.
"This is a highly instructive book on both the history and theory of measurement in economics. It is rather a rich source of interesting properties of more or less well known indices and famous men, especially Irving Fisher, than a precise mathematical text on the axiomatic foundations of indices." (From the Foreword by Wolfgang Eichhorn)

Zusammenfassung
"In summary, the book provides a valuable survey of traditional procedures in the construction of price indices and demonstrates new techniques to build indices and to test for their properties. Researchers and scientists who are engaged in the field of statistical index number theory can improve their understanding of modern index theory when reading the book." Zentralblatt für Mathematik, 878, 1998

Inhalt
About Irving Fisher.- 1. Price indices.- 2. Traditional treating of properties of price indices 3.- 3. Modern treating of properties of indices: their automatic generation.- 4. A new axiom system for price indices.- 5. First generalisations: Other interpretations of the prices and quantities.- 6. Second generalisation: Functions other than the scalar product.- 7. Third generalisation: Other statistical measures and their properties.- Annexes.- A1 Main symbols used.- A2 Table: Common structure of several measures in descriptive statistics.- A3 Index.