ON AGGREGATION METHODS FOR INTERNATIONAL COMPARISONS

Abstract

This paper brings together discussions of Geary–Khamis indexes now available only in scattered sources, and considers their application to a range of uses. The first section traces the development of the method from its initial proposal by Geary in 1953, with the aid of a numerical example illustrating differences among various formulations. The second section considers the least squares properties of Geary‐Khamis indexes and some related variants. The final section considers adjustments to the method required for regionalization and spatio‐temporal bilateral and multilateral comparisons, as well as to take account of the nature of available data.