Markets · 6 pages · 12 min

Why your inflation may not match the index

Your inflation follows your own spending weights, which can differ from the official basket.

I understand the following: I can download a file of this brief, and I can also read it in the library on this browser. Clearing the cache or cookies deletes the library copy. The file must be downloaded for access to be retained.

When the purchase is complete, return to the original window. It will refresh.

From the opening

Your inflation is the change in the cost of the things you actually buy, weighted the way you buy them. It may not match the consumer price index because that index uses an average household's basket, and your rent, care, tuition, or region can differ sharply from the average. The opening covers official weights are an average, your big bills may be small there, and regions do not move together.

The rest of the brief — the later sections and the reading notes — opens after Stripe confirms payment.

Inside

Official weights are an average
Your big bills may be small there
Regions do not move together
Category indexes sit closer
Where the idea stops applying
A distinction worth keeping

Sources

Household expenditure weights
Consumer price index population

03Reading a balance sheet in one sittingMarkets34 min$22 11What a credit score is countingMarkets28 min$20 0890How a stock is a slice of a companyMarkets12 min$11

Why your inflation may not match the index

From the opening

Inside

Sources

Also on the desk