Comparing Eggs to Bananas

By dividing the CPI into goods and services that can and cannot be traded, we can see the impact of trade on price changes.

How to Measure Our Misery

The economic way to demonstrate sadness is to look at misery indexes that use macro data to measure changes in our emotions.

The 5 Stars That People Get (And Don’t Deserve)

There are some good reasons that most of us are contributing to a reputation inflation that diminishes the meaning of an Uber driver rating score.

When Product Ratings Are a Problem

The worst summer in 20 years, movie box office revenue from May to Labor Day in 2017 was 15% less than the same dates last year. The reason could be lower film quality. Or it could be Netflix and Amazon.…

There’s Lots More To the CPI Than One Number

Seemingly a single number, the CPI market basket is composed of wildly different flexible and sticky prices that provide a different view of inflation.

Weekly Roundup: From Santa’s Salary to Holiday Spending

This week’s economic news summary includes Apple’s corporate taxes, Santa’s GDP connection, seasonal spending, the gender gap and the brain and shopping.

What the Twelve Days of Christmas Will Cost You

The PNC Christmas Price Index might be an accurate inflation calculator because it includes the price of labor, commodities, services and goods.

Weekly Roundup: From Smart Cars to Dumb Laws

This week’s economic news summary includes work week tradeoffs in France, new labor laws for the gig economy, and why price tags are disappearing.

Weekly Roundup: From Garbage Questions to Credit Card Costs

Our economic news summary includes expectations bias and female scholars, the environmental debate about garbage and hidden credit card externalities.

Thanksgiving Economics

While the nominal price of a Thanksgiving dinner for 10 has gone up during the past 30 years, in real inflation adjusted numbers, it is less than in 1986.