Principles of Macroeconomics / Unit 6 MAC 0507 short lesson, about 20 seconds
The Consumer Price Index
Captions available
The idea
The consumer price index prices a fixed basket of what households buy. The basket comes from a survey of household spending, and housing carries the largest weight.
In practice
Its base period is nineteen eighty-two to eighty-four, so the index is not centered on today.
Where people slip
When a news report gives the inflation rate without saying which index, it usually means this one.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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