can anyone tell me? thx...
2006-12-02 23:29:00 · 4 answers · asked by Anonymous in Social Science ➔ Economics
CPI just includes a sample "basket" of goods that is representative of what people buy -- so it necessarily does not include lots of things. Though I haven't seen what exactly it DOES include.
One interesting thing it does not include is the price of houses. If home prices double, that isn't directly counted. However there's a good reason for this: since you buy a house, it is your asset and you benefit from its value increasing. So mortgages get higher but also a person's wealth and the amount of capital gains they make when selling the house increases.
2006-12-03 04:56:55 · answer #1 · answered by KevinStud99 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
All goods that occupy an insignificant portion of an average household's budget, aren't included in the CPI. Simply because the changes in the price of these goods have a minimum effect on total economic system.
2006-12-03 11:53:30 · answer #2 · answered by daniel_cohadier 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The consumer price index is a US government statistic. It does not cover most of consumables. It would be impossible to collect, analyze and publish the data on millions of items, every week or so.
I learned from President Harry Truman: "There are lies, damned lies, and statistics."
Whatever the government comes up with, learn to be skeptical.
Unemployment stats are a good example. If someone is unemployed and not looking for a job, he is not counted as "unemployed." Who determines that and how.
Another favorite example. There are allegedly 43 million uninsured people, for health insurance. The government counts a person as "uninsured" even if he does not insurance for one day in a given year. That group is about 55% of the total. Take off a few million people who are rich and don't need insurance, take off a few million who are young and working and don't feel the need to buy insurance, take off a few million who are eligible for government programs but don't use the programs, and you are left with about 7 million who want insurance and truly cannot afford to buy it.
2006-12-03 07:42:07 · answer #3 · answered by regerugged 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Crisis Prevention Institute's Violence Prevention Resource Center. That about covers it. I don't know why. Unless your acronym is for something else.
In that case you must be more specific.
2006-12-03 07:39:16 · answer #4 · answered by Smurfetta 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋