Who cares about measuring inflation correctly? Taxpayers should

Correcting for technical errors in how inflation is measured sounds like a topic only for the pure theorists. This post, however, presents estimates of the cost to Irish taxpayers of the Government’s use of an inadequate measure of changes in the cost of living. If the Government had adjusted CPI downwards each year by 1.1%, as per leading estimates, it could have saved in the order of €13bn this decade.

Deflationary food for thought

A quick look at prices across the different sectors in Ireland reveals a far more interesting pattern than the typical assumption of slowly rising prices would suggest. Clothing and communications prices are at levels similar to those in the 1980s, while ‘deflationary episodes’ are becoming more common in Ireland every decade.

Typical change in prices, by sector, 1990-2009

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