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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

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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/7276
    File Function: First version, 2007
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

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    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. 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.
    6. Merrino, Serena, 2022. "Monetary policy and wage inequality in South Africa," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    7. 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).
    8. 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.
    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. 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.
    11. 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).
    12. Alessandra Cepparulo & Francesca Gastaldi & Paolo Liberati, 2010. "The distributional and welfare impact of inflation in Italy," Working Papers in Public Economics 134, Department of Economics and Law, Sapienza University of Roma.
    13. 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.
    14. Tavares, Francisco, 2021. "Inflation heterogeneity and its impact on inequality: evidence from the United States," MPRA Paper 105461, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Gaddis,Isis, 2016. "Prices for poverty analysis in Africa," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7652, The World Bank.
    16. 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.
    17. 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.

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    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

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