Summary
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The Consumer Confidence Index published by the Conference Board of Canada is not comparable to the one issued by its counterpart in the United States. The main difference between the two lies in how the underlying diffusion indexes are constructed.
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This problem can be overcome by applying a standard method of construction for both countries.
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If the underlying surveys differ, whether because the questions asked are not the same, the surveys are not conducted at the same time of the month, or the sampling methods vary, then the two confidence indexes cannot be considered to be perfectly comparable. Still, comparability can be improved immensely if the method of constructing the indexes is standardized.
