Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

> They regularly modify the list of items in the cart, meaning the data isn't reliable over time.

Please show me an economy where the list of goods stay stagnant and don't constantly change.

Unless your CPI is comprised of raw commodities like Iron Ore and Salt and Copper - then you're not going to be able to keep a stagnant list of items.

If x% of consumer food spending was on milk in 1920 and now it's 1/10th x - it doesn't make sense to keep milk with the same weight as it did in 1920.

It's pretty hard to tell if people are drinking less milk now because they're poorer or because they just prefer almond milk (which is more expensive) instead.

So, please, find a better & more cost-effective way to measure inflation. If you do, the government will use it.

Contrary to popular belief, we don't live in the USSR - where our government provides us with blatantly crap data. We just have shill politicians that spin everything into a lie.




> Unless your CPI is comprised of raw commodities like Iron Ore and Salt and Copper

In which case it won’t be a Consumer Price Index at all, as those things in their raw forms (well, salt is close, I guess) aren’t exactly consumer goods.

Of course, we already have industry-specific Producer Price Indexes which cover the raw materials and other inputs used in those industries.


Anything that is not basically a raw element can easily have the quality dropped substantially and make it difficult to measure the cost over time.

If you take steel as an input - you can make lower quality steel for a lower price.

Even something as seemingly mundane and simple as oil has a lot of variety.




Consider applying for YC's Spring batch! Applications are open till Feb 11.

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: