IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ctw/wpaper/07129.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Consumer Price Inflation across the Income Distribution in South Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Morne Oosthuizen

    (Development Policy Research Unit, University of Cape Town)

Abstract

By monitoring the price changes experienced by some representative household, consumer price indices provide an important measure of changing purchasing power within a given economy. Group price indices offer one method of more accurately reflecting the inflation experiences of specific types of households, such as poor households, elderly households or households with children, for example. This study uses expenditure data from the 2000 Income and Expenditure Survey and price indices from Statistics South Africa to calculate inflation rates for expenditure deciles for the period 1998 to 2006. As a result, price indices and inflation rates calculated on the basis of these weights can not accurately reflect the rates of inflation experienced by what would be viewed as the ‘average’ household.

Suggested Citation

  • Morne Oosthuizen, 2007. "Consumer Price Inflation across the Income Distribution in South Africa," Working Papers 07129, University of Cape Town, Development Policy Research Unit.
    • Handle: RePEc:ctw:wpaper:07129
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/7276
    File Function: First version, 2007
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Eduardo Ley, 2005. "Whose inflation? A characterization of the CPI plutocratic gap," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 57(4), pages 634-646, October.
    2. Hagemann, Robert P, 1982. "The Variability of Inflation Rates across Household Types," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 14(4), pages 494-510, November.
    3. Bart Hobijn & David Lagakos, 2005. "Inflation Inequality In The United States," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 51(4), pages 581-606, December.
    4. Angus Deaton, 1998. "Getting Prices Right: What Should Be Done?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 12(1), pages 37-46, Winter.
    5. Michael, Robert T, 1979. "Variation across Households in the Rate of Inflation," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 11(1), pages 32-46, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Shireen AlAzzawi, 2017. "Did the Cost of Living Rise Faster for the Rural Poor?," Working Papers 1091, Economic Research Forum, revised 05 Apr 2017.
    2. Arden Finn & Murray Leibbrandt & Morné Oosthuizen, 2014. "Poverty, Inequality, and Prices in Post-Apartheid South Africa," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2014-127, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    3. Carlos Garcimartín & Jhonatan Astudillo & André Martínez, 2021. "Inflation and income distribution in Central America, Mexico, Panama, and the Dominican Republic," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(1), pages 315-339, February.
    4. Morne Oosthuizen, 2013. "Inflation Inequality In South Africa," Working Papers 13158, University of Cape Town, Development Policy Research Unit.
    5. Alessandra Cepparulo & Francesca Gastaldi & Paolo Liberati, 2010. "The distributional and welfare impact of inflation in Italy," Working Papers in Public Economics 134, University of Rome La Sapienza, Department of Economics and Law.
    6. Yixia Cai & Timothy Smeeding, 2019. "Deep and Extreme Child Poverty in Rich and Poor Nations: Lessons from Atkinson for the Fight Against Child Poverty," LIS Working papers 780, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    7. Cornia Giovanni Andrea, 2018. "Eradicating Poverty by the Year 2030: Implications for Income Inequality, Population Policies, Food Prices (and Faster Growth?)," Journal of Globalization and Development, De Gruyter, vol. 9(2), pages 1-21, December.
    8. Tavares, Francisco, 2021. "Inflation heterogeneity and its impact on inequality: evidence from the United States," MPRA Paper 105461, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Steven F. Koch & Adel Bosch, 2009. "Inflation and the Household: Towards a Measurement of the Welfare Costs of Inflation," Working Papers 200917, University of Pretoria, Department of Economics.
    10. Gaddis,Isis, 2016. "Prices for poverty analysis in Africa," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7652, The World Bank.
    11. Ha,Jongrim & Ivanova,Anna & Ohnsorge,Franziska Lieselotte & Unsal Portillo Ocando,Derya Filiz, 2019. "Inflation : Concepts, Evolution, and Correlates," Policy Research Working Paper Series 8738, The World Bank.
    12. Yixia Cai & Timothy Smeeding, 2020. "Deep and Extreme Child Poverty in Rich and Poor Nations: Lessons from Atkinson for the Fight Against Child Poverty," Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, Springer;Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association), vol. 6(1), pages 109-128, March.
    13. Finn, Arden & Leibbrandt, Murray & Oosthuizen, Morne, 2014. "Poverty, inequality, and prices in post-apartheid South Africa," WIDER Working Paper Series 127, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    14. Logan Rangasamy, 2011. "Food Inflation In South Africa: Some Implications For Economic Policy," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 79(2), pages 184-201, June.
    15. Gregory John Lee & Gareth Rees, 2016. "Give and Take Between Households and the State: Development and Application of A Benefaction–Contribution Ratio," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 62(2), pages 362-379, June.
    16. Merrino, Serena, 2022. "Monetary policy and wage inequality in South Africa," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    17. Serena Merrino, 2020. "Wage inequality under inflation-targeting in South Africa," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2020-86, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Goni, Edwin & Lopez, Humberto & Serven, Luis, 2006. "Getting realabout inequality : evidence from Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3815, The World Bank.
    2. Morne Oosthuizen, 2013. "Inflation Inequality In South Africa," Working Papers 13158, University of Cape Town, Development Policy Research Unit.
    3. Carlos Garcimartín & Jhonatan Astudillo & André Martínez, 2021. "Inflation and income distribution in Central America, Mexico, Panama, and the Dominican Republic," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(1), pages 315-339, February.
    4. Abildgren, Kim & Kuchler, Andreas, 2021. "Revisiting the inflation perception conundrum," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    5. Biljana Jovanovic & Marko Josimovski, 2021. "Income-specific inflation rates and the effects of monetary policy: the case of North Macedonia," Working Papers 2021-01, National Bank of the Republic of North Macedonia.
    6. Petr Janský & Pavel Hait, 2016. "Inflation Differentials among Czech Households," Prague Economic Papers, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2016(1), pages 71-84.
    7. Alberto Cavallo, 2020. "Inflation with Covid Consumption Baskets," NBER Working Papers 27352, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Ruiz-Castillo, Javier & Ley, Eduardo & Izquierdo, Mario, 2002. "Distributional aspects of the quality change bias in the CPI: evidence from Spain," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 76(1), pages 137-144, June.
    9. Pirmin Fessler & Friedrich Fritzer & Mirjam Salish, 2023. "Who pays the price when prices rise?," Monetary Policy & the Economy, Oesterreichische Nationalbank (Austrian Central Bank), issue Q4/22-Q1/, pages 67-84.
    10. Roberta Colavecchio & Ulrich Fritsche & Michael Graff, 2011. "Inflation Inequality in Europe," Macroeconomics and Finance Series 201102, University of Hamburg, Department of Socioeconomics.
    11. Bettarelli, Luca & Estefania-Flores, Julia & Furceri, Davide & Loungani, Prakash & Pizzuto, Pietro, 2023. "Energy inflation and consumption inequality," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    12. Slesnick, Daniel T., 2002. "Prices and Regional Variation in Welfare," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(3), pages 446-468, May.
    13. Andrea Bentancor & Pablo Pincheira, 2014. "The Long-Term Divergence Between Your CPI and Mine, The Case of Chile," Working Papers Central Bank of Chile 736, Central Bank of Chile.
    14. Kaplan, Greg & Schulhofer-Wohl, Sam, 2017. "Inflation at the household level," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 19-38.
    15. Gürer Eren & Weichenrieder Alfons, 2020. "Pro-rich inflation in Europe: Implications for the measurement of inequality," German Economic Review, De Gruyter, vol. 21(1), pages 107-138, April.
    16. Channing Arndt & Sam Jones & Vincenzo Salvucci, 2015. "When do relative prices matter for measuring income inequality? The case of food prices in Mozambique," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 13(3), pages 449-464, September.
    17. repec:ebl:ecbull:v:4:y:2002:i:3:p:1-5 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Filippo Pallotti & Gonzalo Paz-Pardo & Jiri Slacalek & Oreste Tristani & Giovanni L. Violante, 2023. "Who Bears the Costs of Inflation? Euro Area Households and the 2021–2022 Shock," NBER Working Papers 31896, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. Michael Grimm & Isabel Günther, 2005. "Inflation Inequality and the Measurement of Pro-Poor Growth," Working Papers DT/2005/08, DIAL (Développement, Institutions et Mondialisation).
    20. Alexander W. Huber, 2023. "Inflation inequality in Austria: A mid-term view on cost-of-living developments," Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft - WuG, Kammer für Arbeiter und Angestellte für Wien, Abteilung Wirtschaftswissenschaft und Statistik, vol. 49(1), pages 91-120.
    21. Carola Frydman & Raven Molloy, 2024. "A Real Great Compression: Inflation and Inequality in the 1940s," NBER Chapters, in: The Economic History of American Inequality: New Evidence and Perspectives, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    South Africa: consumer price index; Income distribution (South Africa); purchasing;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • A1 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ctw:wpaper:07129. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Waseema Petersen (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dpuctza.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.