This paper examines the appropriate treatment in the cost-of-living index of the appearance of new varieties of old goods. Existing theory here applies to individual households. Thus, we first show in what sense Laspeyres and Paasche indices for groups of households can be considered approximations to theoretically desirable group indices and then go on to the case of new goods. We apply our results to the case of the introduction of generics in pharmaceuticals and show that proper treatment can make a considerable difference.

This paper investigates the shift in demand away from unskilled and toward skilled labor in U. S. manufacturing over the 1980s. Production labor-saving technological change is the chief explanation for this shift. That conclusion is based on three facts: (1) the shift is due mostly to increased use of skilled workers within the 450 industries in U. S. manufacturing rather than to a reallocation of employment between industries, as would be implied by a shift in product demand due to trade or to a defense buildup; (2) trade- and defense-demand are associated with only small employment reallocation effects; (3) increased use of nonproduction workers is strongly correlated with investment in computers and in R&D.