Keep in mind that they manipulate the CPI to make it look not so bad.
For example, if the price of a luxury item spikes by 50% (like a lot of grocery items did in the last year), they’ll remove it from the basket and put in a cheaper alternative instead. The idea is that what people would do, but the result is a figure that doesn’t represent actual price increases.
Makes sense. Inflation is trying to determine the value of currency as you can’t just ask how much a dollar is worth. Of course, a dollar is always worth a dollar! Which means nothing as we know a dollar today isn’t worth the same as a dollar yesterday. Thus, CPI becomes the proxy.
If a luxury item becomes more valuable, then you’re no longer measuring the change in value of the currency, you’re measuring the change in value of that item. It can never be an exact science, but if one thing jumps by 50% when nothing else has, there is extreme confidence that it is not the change in value of the currency that resulted in the change in price and it stands to reason that you would want to eliminate it from the calculation.
It’s not meant to measure inflation. It’s supposed to measure the cost of consumer goods, but instead they say it’s about “overall cost of living” to justify the manipulation.
It’s supposed to measure the cost of consumer goods
Because consumables are what are frequently purchased to be able to observe inflation taking place.
It wouldn’t make sense to track houses, for example. People only buy those once, maybe twice in their life. You would have no idea how their perception of the value of the dollar is changing watching that.
Keep in mind that they manipulate the CPI to make it look not so bad.
For example, if the price of a luxury item spikes by 50% (like a lot of grocery items did in the last year), they’ll remove it from the basket and put in a cheaper alternative instead. The idea is that what people would do, but the result is a figure that doesn’t represent actual price increases.
The main purpose of CPI is to see if Canadians can still make ends meet. It’s not supposed to express price increases, but cost of living increases.
People change their habits as prices change. That’s well-known.
So maybe it should be called the Buying Habits Index then.
We could call it the Cost of Not Dying if you prefer
Makes sense. Inflation is trying to determine the value of currency as you can’t just ask how much a dollar is worth. Of course, a dollar is always worth a dollar! Which means nothing as we know a dollar today isn’t worth the same as a dollar yesterday. Thus, CPI becomes the proxy.
If a luxury item becomes more valuable, then you’re no longer measuring the change in value of the currency, you’re measuring the change in value of that item. It can never be an exact science, but if one thing jumps by 50% when nothing else has, there is extreme confidence that it is not the change in value of the currency that resulted in the change in price and it stands to reason that you would want to eliminate it from the calculation.
It’s not meant to measure inflation. It’s supposed to measure the cost of consumer goods, but instead they say it’s about “overall cost of living” to justify the manipulation.
Because consumables are what are frequently purchased to be able to observe inflation taking place.
It wouldn’t make sense to track houses, for example. People only buy those once, maybe twice in their life. You would have no idea how their perception of the value of the dollar is changing watching that.
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