U.S. CPI and Inflation (1914-2003)
Real World Data for Economics Principles
Inflation is defined as a rise in the general level of prices and is measured by the change in consumer price index (CPI) surveyed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). |
The CPI reports the price of a "market basket" of some 300 consumer goods and services that presumably are purchased by a typical urban consumer. |
The BLS arbitrarily sets the CPI equal to 100 for 1982-1984. |
| CPI = (price of the most recent market basket in the particular year/price of the same market basket in 1982-1984)*100. |
| The rate of inflation = {(CPI 1 ¡V CPI 0)/CPI 0}*100. |
Source: |
Annual Inflation (1914 - 2003), Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, ftp://ftp.bls.gov/pub/special.requests/cpi/cpiai.txt. Calculated from consumer price index, all urban
consumers, U.S. city average, all items (1982-1984=100). |
 Inflation Data Showcase (Animated Data Presentation) |