A chained volume series is a series of economic data (such as GDP, GNP or similar kinds of data) from successive years, put in real (or constant, i.e. inflation- and deflation-adjusted) terms by computing the aggregate value of the measure (e.g. GDP or GNP) for each year using the prices of the preceding year, and then 'chain linking' the data together to obtain a time-series of figures from which the effects of price changes (i.e., monetary inflation or deflation) have, at least in theory, been removed.
The year-by-year chain linking method differs from some other techniques for compensating for monetary inflation and deflation that are used in economics, such as the consumer price index.
The chain linking method attempts to avoid this conundrum by never making large leaps in time.
The United Kingdom presently uses chain linking to put its national accounts aggregates (e.g., GDP, GNP) in constant-price terms.
[1] The United States switched to using chained volume series in 1996 as its featured method of putting GDP in constant-price terms.