In this article by Eric Morath, Morath elaborates on the reasons why the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose just 1% over the month of March. To be able to have an accurate analysis, there must first be an explanation on the definition of CPI and its role in contributing to the state of the economy. Consumer Price Index is, in essence, a “bucket of goods” that is tracked to help determine how much prices of these goods rise or fall overtime. This gives a representative view of how strong or weak the economy is, and is also a measurement of inflation. When the prices of goods rise, it indicates growth and possible inflation compared to an earlier observation. If the price falls, it shows a possible recession or even strengthening of the dollar. In regards to the current measurements, the growth of the early quarter of 2016 …show more content…
As the global economy struggles along, the recent decrease of value of the United States dollar also puts pressure on the United States to increase its inflation rate to the target 2%. There can be multiple ways of doing this, all which stem from the LM-IS curve. If one was to assume that the IS curve was elastic, a fiscal policy might be the solution to raise interest rates. If government were to cut back on taxes, or increase government spending, it would shift the IS curve to the right. This shift would create a new equilibrium point with the LM curve. This new point will have naturally increasing interest rates, which will help inflation, rise to the target point. It is up to government to decide on which fiscal policy would be most effective. However, if we cut taxes on consumers, one can expect that consumption would increase among consumers, and overall GDP would increase. Again, the Federal Reserve is looking to control the growth of the economy by raising Fed rates, so once can expect that once that natural inflation rate would need to increase before action is
Also to adjust pending contracts and initiate new pensions which have to take into account the effect of inflation. Less well-off people and elderly are more vulnerable to inflation as it affects their investment income and social benefits like pensions. Canada’s annual rate of inflation, which had reached a high of 12.5 per cent in 1981, has averaged 2 per cent since 1991. For example, if the cost of the consumer basket rises, say, from $100 in 2007 to $102 in 2008, the average annual rate of inflation for 2008 is 2 per cent. People generally believed that if the inflation rate was higher than normal in the past so they will expect it to be higher in the future than anticipated whereas some takes in consideration the past along with current economic indicators, such as the current inflation rate and current economic policies, to anticipate its future performance. Over the long term, the earnings margins of corporations are inflationary and so are the wage gains of workers. According to rational expectations, attempts to reduce unemployment will only result in higher
...formula is based on an arithmetic mean of the price levels in the two selected cities. In order to calculate the index for the two cities examined, the average price of each item must first be calculated. The prices are then compared in each town to the average prices. There is still another element to the calculation of the CPI that we haven’t discussed just yet, and that is not every product in the survey is as important as the other. For example, the cost of a vehicle is more important in determining the index than the price of a loaf of bread. The weights have been chosen on the basis of research that indicates while there are certainly differences amongst the various national spending patterns; there are some average figures that most companies accept. The chart below indicates the sum of individual weights allocated to each item composing the index categories.
The United States economy is racing ahead at dangerous speeds, and it may be too late to prevent the return of widespread inflation. Ideally the economy should move ahead gradually and grow at a steady manageable rate. Mae West once stated “Too much of a good thing can be wonderful” and it seems the U.S. Treasury Secretary agrees. The Secretary announced that due to our increasing surplus and booming economy, instead of having an outsized tax cut, we should use the surplus to further pay down the national debt. A tax cut, though most Americans would favor it initially, would prove counter productive. Cutting taxes would over stimulate an already raging economy, and enhance the possibilities of an increase in the rate of inflation. Paying off the national debt would actually help lower interest rates and boost investments, and therefore further increase the wealth of the population, while keeping inflation at bay.
...h. According to the Classicists, attempting discretionary demand-side stabilization by changing G, M, or tax rates would only change the rate of inflation. There is no role for fiscal and monetary stabilization in an economy by a vertical AS curve.
While Aiyagari notes, much like Hoskins, that the Central Bank can control the price level of goods and services, it can only be done if the commitment is seen as credible, which the author is skeptical about since the federal government hasn’t been able to contain federal debt recently on several occasions. I would also be skeptical as the issue of federal debt has been seen in the news often. Just within the past month it has been reported that the U.S. federal debt is climbing to 150% of GDP by 2047; currently, it’s at 101% of GDP (http://www.cnbc.com/2017/03/30/debt-and-deficits-are-going-to-explode-in-the-next-30-years-cbo-says.html). According to Aiyagari, to be viewed as credible, the Central Bank and fiscal authorities need to join forces over the long run. This is because to maintain to maintain the federal budget balance, fiscal authorities need to adjust taxes; otherwise the bank has to change their course to deal with accumulating public
It assumes that there are three drivers for price and inflation which is the following, the Consumer Price Index, Employment Index and Producer Prices. It is more common to look at the consumer price index completely these days which is recommended by Taylor as prices such as food is excluded from core consumer price index (Bernanke, 2010). This technique permits a better completed depiction of the economy in regards to inflation and the prices for an onlooker. An increase in prices tends to mean an increase in inflation. Thus, Taylor suggests to factor the rate of inflation over four quarters or one year to gain a complete
In an economy, aggregate demand (AD) accounts for the total expenditure on goods and services. It has five constituents; Consumer expenditure (C), Investment expenditure (I), Government expenditure (G), Export expenditure (X) and import expenditure (M), This gives us: AD= C+I+G+X-M. Aggregate supply (AS) on the other hand is the total supply of goods and services in the economy. Increasing AD and decreasing AS both cause demand-pull and cost-push inflation respectively. Demand pull inflation occurs when aggregate demand (AD) continuously rises, detailed in Figure 1. The AD curve continuously shifts to the right, as demand continuously increases, from point a to b to c. This consequently causes an increase in the price level of goods and services. As prices rise, costs of production also increase, causing producers to reduce output (a decrease in aggregate supply (AS)), shifting the AS curve to the left and leading to yet another increase in prices, (t...
There is not just one but there are two categories for measuring CPI. There is one CPI that is specifically for urban wage owners that is represented by CPI-W and then there is another CPI measure for all urban consumers and that is known as C-CPI-U. In the chart below is a breakdown for how the CPI is constructed for urban consumers. Which is widely used you may ask? Well 87% of the population is accounted by the C-CPI-U and that is because it better represents the general public. When it comes to analyzing rates of inflation or deflation CPI is most commonly used as it provides clear data as to what is going on. When the numbers of CPI rise rapidly in a short amount of time that usually indicates towards inflation and when there are big drops in numbers in a short a...
The suite of Consumer Price Index insights is utilized by economic specialists and managers as a macroeconomic marker. The insights can be utilized to advice choices on monetary and government strategy. Various government divisions utilize Consumer Price Index statistics to screen how costs for particular products or administrations contrast and general levels of
It is difficult for government to achieve all the macroeconomics objectives at the same time. Conflicts between macroeconomics objectives means a policy irritating aggregate demand may reduce unemployment in the short term but launch a period of higher inflation and exacerbate the current account of the balance of payments which can also dividend into main objectives and additional objectives (N. T. Macdonald,
The CPI is a longer assessment of 462 questions. This assessment is a self-report inventory that helps individuals gain a clearer picture of their characterizes and thinking styles. The assessment is broken up in two sections the profiles for validity and the personological modes or quadrants. The validity profiles are broken up into an expansive amount of categories; but the ones individuals need to take notice of are the ones that fall above or below the standard t-score results. In this section of the assessment the categories that stuck out to me for being above the standard t-scores are: dominance (Do), self-acceptance (Sa), independence (In), empathy (Em), achievement via independence (Ai) and flexibility (Fx). In a nutshell what these
Whereas Milton Friedman argued that consumption is related to permanent rather than current income. He was therefore more sceptical about he usefulness of a tax change for stabilisation purposes than one who believes that consumption depends on current disposable income. Policy makers usually use Fiscal policy to alter the level, timing or composition of government expenditure and/or the level, timing or structure of tax payments. And they use Monetary policy to alter the supply of money and/or credit and also to alter interest rates. But some policies are not always successful; a good example was the decision to use monetary policy to solve the liquidity trap.
Inflation is the rate at which the purchasing power of currency is falling, consequently, the general level of prices for goods and services is rising. Central banks endeavor to point of confinement inflation, and maintain a strategic distance from collapse i.e. deflation, with a specific end goal to keep the economy running smoothly.
especially during a recession. What is inflation, what are some of the causes and effects
Inflation is one of the most important economic issues in the world. It can be defined as the price of goods and services rising over monthly or yearly. Inflation leads to a decline in the value of money, it means that we cannot buy something at a price that same as before. This situation will increase our cost of living.