Box 1. Economic Indexes and Indicators

An economic index is a single statistic that is calculated from two or more other economic statistics through an aggregation procedure. Important examples include the Consumer Price Index, which aggregates prices of multiple goods and services, and the Federal Reserve Board's Industrial Production Index, which aggregates production quantities across different industries. Indexes are often expressed as a ratio to some base year.

An economic indicator allows analysis of economic performance and predictions of performance.