Safwan Mutha Abou -Assaf*⁽¹⁾ Remal Slman Saab⁽¹⁾ Maya Youssef Al-Abdala⁽¹⁾ and Samar Hossam Aldeen Al-Ashaoush⁽¹⁾

Received: 23/07/2016                           Accepted: 12/08/2016

Abstract

The aim of this research was performing an analytical comparison of consumer prices index in Syria, to determine the convergence and spacing among them, using the method of hierarchical cluster analysis, and creating a proximities matrix that rely on calculating squared Euclidean distance between the studied units, according to the provinces, months and main groups of goods and services during 2014 compared to 2010. It was found that there were 10 provinces formed the first cluster, and this refers that these figures are homogenous among these provinces, while months were distributed in four clusters, which indicates a lack of homogeneity of the indices of consumer prices between months. In addition, the results revealed that nine of goods and services were concentrated in one cluster, indicating the homogeneity of these groups. The study recommended to use recent years and to consider the base year in the estimation of indices of consumer prices, also the study advised the competent authorities to expand the use of database accounts indices, and putting more details in performing main groups of goods and services. In addition to that, domestic investment must be run at a faster scale, especially the local industrial sectors.

Keywords: Index numbers, Cluster analysis, Hierarchical cluster analysis, Squared Euclidean Distance, Inflation.

Full paper in Arabic: Analytical Study of Consumer Prices Indices Using Cluster Analysis, Syria