IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ces/ceswps/_11973.html

The CPI, Inflation, and the Cost of Living: A Proposal

Author

Listed:
  • J. Atsu Amegashie

Abstract

Inflation is the percentage change in the CPI over a given period of time. It is usually calculated over a year (year-on-year inflation) and over a month (month-to-month inflation). Even if prices are not currently rising from month to month, the year-to-year inflation rate could still be positive and high. As shown in this article, it is possible that, during a certain period, the cost of living in a given month is the highest but the year-on-year inflation in that month is the lowest. The cost of living and the inflation rate may move in opposite directions. This accounts for the well-known difference between measured (official) inflation and consumers’ perceived inflation. Using the CPI, I propose a simple solution that unambiguously ensures that a fall (a rise) in the inflation rate indicates that we are getting closer to (farther from) a ‘target’ cost of living.

Suggested Citation

  • J. Atsu Amegashie, 2025. "The CPI, Inflation, and the Cost of Living: A Proposal," CESifo Working Paper Series 11973, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11973
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.ifo.de/DocDL/cesifo1_wp11973.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Michael Weber & Yuriy Gorodnichenko & Olivier Coibion, 2023. "The Expected, Perceived, and Realized Inflation of US Households Before and During the COVID19 Pandemic," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 71(1), pages 326-368, March.
    2. Abildgren, Kim & Kuchler, Andreas, 2021. "Revisiting the inflation perception conundrum," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    3. Ehrmann, Michael & Tzamourani, Panagiota, 2012. "Memories of high inflation," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 174-191.
    4. Boudoukh, Jacob & Richardson, Matthew, 1993. "Stock Returns and Inflation: A Long-Horizon Perspective," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(5), pages 1346-1355, December.
    5. Matthew Hayes, 2011. "The Social History of Quantifying Inflation: A Sociological Critique," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(1), pages 97-112.
    6. Michael J. Boskin, 1998. "Consumer Prices, the Consumer Price Index, and the Cost of Living," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 12(1), pages 3-26, Winter.
    7. Georganas, Sotiris & Healy, Paul J. & Li, Nan, 2014. "Frequency bias in consumers׳ perceptions of inflation: An experimental study," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 144-158.
    8. Ulrike Malmendier & Alexandra Steiny Wellsjo, 2024. "Rent or Buy? Inflation Experiences and Homeownership within and across Countries," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 79(3), pages 1977-2023, June.
    9. Cenzon, Josefina & Szabó, Barna Elek, 2024. "Mortgage choice and inflation experiences in the Eurozone," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 147(S).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Lena Dräger & Ulrich Fritsche, 2013. "Don't Worry, Be Right! Survey Wording Effects on In flation Perceptions and Expectations," Macroeconomics and Finance Series 201308, University of Hamburg, Department of Socioeconomics.
    2. Alberto Prati, 2024. "The Well‐Being Cost of Inflation Inequalities," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 70(1), pages 213-238, March.
    3. Krämer Andreas, 2025. "Lücke zwischen gefühlter und gemessener Inflation? Eine empirische Bestandsaufnahme," Wirtschaftsdienst, Sciendo, vol. 105(11), pages 821-827.
    4. Volker Hahn & Michal Marencak, 2025. "Inflation Perceptions and Monetary Policy," Working and Discussion Papers WP 4/2025, Research Department, National Bank of Slovakia.
    5. Corduas, Marcella, 2022. "Gender differences in the perception of inflation," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    6. Dietrich, Alexander M., 2024. "Consumption categories, household attention, and inflation expectations: Implications for optimal monetary policy," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    7. Kukk, Merike & Toczynski, Jan & Basten, Christoph, 2025. "Beyond the headline: How personal exposure to inflation shapes the financial choices of households," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    8. Cenzon, Josefina & Szabó, Barna Elek, 2024. "Mortgage choice and inflation experiences in the Eurozone," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 147(S).
    9. Hayo, Bernd & Neuenkirch, Edith, 2014. "The German public and its trust in the ECB: The role of knowledge and information search," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 286-303.
    10. Daniel Fehrle, 2023. "Hedging against inflation: housing versus equity," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 65(6), pages 2583-2626, December.
    11. Sellin, Peter, 1998. "Monetary Policy and the Stock Market: Theory and Empirical Evidence," Working Paper Series 72, Sveriges Riksbank (Central Bank of Sweden).
    12. Marie-Claude Beaulieu, 1995. "Rendements boursiers et inflation," L'Actualité Economique, Société Canadienne de Science Economique, vol. 71(4), pages 455-480.
    13. Boon, L.N. & Brière, M. & Rigot, S., 2018. "Regulation and pension fund risk-taking," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 23-41.
    14. Bampinas, Georgios & Panagiotidis, Theodore, 2016. "Hedging inflation with individual US stocks: A long-run portfolio analysis," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 374-392.
    15. repec:ecb:ecbdps:202424 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Malmendier, Ulrike M. & Steiny Wellsjo, Alex, 2020. "Rent or Buy? The Role of Lifetime Experiences on Homeownership within and across Countries," CEPR Discussion Papers 14935, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    17. Libor Dusek & Lubomir Lizal (ed.), 2011. "CERGE-EI Tackles Transition," CERGE-EI Books, The Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education - Economics Institute, Prague, edition 1, number b05, May.
    18. Bajari, P. & Cen, Z. & Chernozhukov, V. & Manukonda, M. & Vijaykumar, S. & Wang, J. & Huerta, R. & Li, J. & Leng, L. & Monokroussos, G. & Wang, S., 2025. "Hedonic prices and quality adjusted price indices powered by AI," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 251(C).
    19. Michael Ehrmann & Damjan Pfajfar & Emiliano Santoro, 2017. "Consumers' Attitudes and Their Inflation Expectations," International Journal of Central Banking, International Journal of Central Banking, vol. 13(1), pages 225-259, February.
    20. Jarko Fidrmuc & Christa Hainz & Werner Hölzl, 2024. "Individual credit market experience and beliefs about bank lending policy: evidence from a firm survey," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 126(2), pages 387-414, April.
    21. Bernd Hayo, 2014. "Granville, Brigitte: Remembering inflation," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 113(1), pages 97-100, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • E31 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Price Level; Inflation; Deflation
    • H25 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Business Taxes and Subsidies
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:ces:ceswps:_11973. 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: Klaus Wohlrabe (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cesifde.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.