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A Dollar’s Worth: Inflation Is Real
Understanding the reality of inflation can help consumers make decisions in personal finance. Learn more about inflation, how it’s measured, and how the inflation rate is calculated in the December 2021 issue of Page One Economics: Focus on Finance.
Journal Article
The CPI–PCEPI Inflation Differential: Causes and Prospects
The Federal Open Market Committee’s inflation target is stated in terms of the personal consumption expenditures price index (PCEPI). The PCEPI, like the consumer price index (CPI), measures inflation in the expenditures of households, but these indexes differ in purpose, scope, and construction. Notably, since the CPI is used as the reference rate for numerous financial contracts, one can derive implied longer-run CPI inflation forecasts from financial contracts. Such forecasts are widely reported. But if policymakers are to use these forecasts to guide their pursuit of the inflation ...
Discussion Paper
A Closer Look at the Recent Pickup in Inflation
Inflation has picked up in the last few months. Between June and November 2010, the twelve-month change in the seasonally adjusted consumer price index (CPI) was stable, at slightly above 1 percent, but it jumped to 3.1 percent as of last April. Higher food and energy prices have been an important factor behind this pickup in “headline” inflation. However, core inflation has also increased; the year-over-year core CPI (excluding volatile food and energy prices) moved from a record low of 0.6 percent in October 2010 to 1.3 percent in April.
Discussion Paper
Inflation and the Price Expectations of Firms
n the spring of 2021, inflation started to climb above the Federal Open Market Committee's (FOMC) 2 percent target. By June 2022, the inflation rate had increased to territory not seen since the early 1980s – year-over-year growth in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) reached 9.1 percent, while growth in the Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index (PCEPI), which is followed most closely by the FOMC, hit 7.0 percent. The most recent inflation readings are still extremely elevated—7.7 percent for the CPI (October 2022) and 6.2 percent for the PCEPI (September 2022).
Journal Article
Overshooting the Inflation Target
Although transitory factors have largely driven the recent rise in inflation, expansionary policy to relieve unusual economic conditions also played a role.