# [[gdp|GDP]] Deflator
GDP uses market prices as measure sticks, which has many drawbacks:
- Prices may not exist, e.g. government revenue, which is assumed to be equal to cost
- Prices may not be a good yardstick, e.g. monopoly prices
- Prices can change over time
Solution: fix the price in an arbitrary *base year*.
- Implicit GDP Deflator = Nominal GDP \/ Real GDP × 100
- Chain-weighted GDP deflators
- [[inflation|Inflation]] rate = growth factor of GDP deflator − 1 = growth rate of GDP deflator
Underestimation of real GDP growth means overestimation of [[inflation]], and vice versa.