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Online retailers offer an immediate measure of inflation IF THE inflationistas are right, where should they look for signs of accelerating price growth? Many are suspicious of official numbers: John Williams, the boss of an inflation-statistics website called ShadowStats.com, claims American inflation has been underestimated for decades because the Bureau of Labour Statistics (BLS) regularly […]

When it comes to planning for your financial future, inflation is a huge issue. In fact, given the historic annual inflation rate of 3.75% a million dollars today will be worth just over $190k in 50 years. Moreover, using that historic rate along with the rule of 72, we can further conclude that prices will

Between official government statistics, industry surveys, and Wall Street forecasts, it often seems like we’re drowning in data, often of uncertain value. But consider the alternative. In the early years of the Great Depression, it was clear that things were awful, but the government had few good figures to go on; there was no official

Even in the information age, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics still gathers much of its data the old-fashioned way. Workers make phone calls to find out what dentists charge for pulling teeth, and they visit stores to write down the prices of CDs and Russet potatoes.

Even in the information age, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics still gathers much of its data the old-fashioned way. Workers make phone calls to find out what dentists charge for pulling teeth, and they visit stores to write down the prices of CDs and Russet potatoes. In the end, the data are accurate but

One indicator I’ve been tracking lately is the MIT Billion Price Index; it basically tracks the goods component of the CPI, but of course has higher frequency, so it’s kind of an early warning indicator. And the BPI has, of course, showed a bump in short-term inflation lately. My prediction was that this bump would

What happens when commodity prices rise by 30% in just 6 months and you have an environment with high unemployment, stagnant wages, and generally weak end demand? According to the Billion Prices Project you get a modest year over year increase in inflation rates. According to the most recent real-time reading the BPP is up

A mediados de 2009, los economistas Vernon Henderson, Adam Storeygard y David Weil sorprendieron al ambiente académico con una idea disparatada y original: las fotos de la superficie terrestre tomadas por satélites desde el espacio exterior podían aportar un muy buen “proxi” para medir los incrementos de PBI en los países, prestando atención a las