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The CPI is a very common measure of prices and has different definitions and uses in different countries. A definitive US-oriented article is correctly referenced from the Consumer Price Index by Countries. This article is US-centric, which is probably fine with the 4.3% of the world's population that live in that country. I am Canadian and I find it distracting to land on US focused material when I am interested searching for something else. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jwaustin188 (talk • contribs) 17:07, 20 September 2019 (UTC)
Actually, RPI and CPI are two different things.
It would seem that RPI and CPI have very different definitions depending on what part of the world you're in. this page should really be divided into geographical variations.
In the UK, RPI and CPI are definitely not the same thing. The Government uses CPI for inflation targetting, and the RPI for things like setting the interest rate on student loans. Does anyone that knows the details of the two systems feel like prising the two apart again?
Indeed- while the CPI is now the preferred system by the UK government, RPI has not ceased to exist- so this page should be split.While both systems are created using a basket of goods, the good vary greatly - for example the CPI does not include costs such as mortgage repayments/council tax - however the RPI does. The RPI is therefore favoured by trade unions as they believe it shows the true cost of living(a higher cost), and believe a higher value ( than the government preferred CPI) will enable them to negotiate better pay terms for their members. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.232.227.88 (talk) 14:13, 3 June 2008 (UTC)
As I understand it there are two chief differences between the CPI and RPI as understood by the UK Government and EUROSTAT. The CPI includes housing costs - not just mortgage interest but items such as insurance, television licence fees and utilities costs - while the RPI does not (this does not of course mean that the housing element of an income adjusted by the CPI remains unadjusted, simply that the basket is differently constructed). The other (contrary to this article) is that the CPI is calculated by deriving a geometric mean of the items, while the RPI uses an arithmetic mean. The geometric mean of a group of values is always lower than the arithmetic mean unless all the values are the same (in recent years the CPI has risen each year by around 1% to 1.5% less than the RPI). The thinking behind this I have not seen properly explained. Deipnosophista (talk) 15:36, 24 December 2010 (UTC)
i have a very simple question, if i am an exporter, and i realise that the CPI is growign year over year, what does that mean..taking other vairables contant.. does this form a positive situation to penetrate the market, or it is a negative indicator??
I think that this should obviously be combined with Consumer Price Index. I think that Wikipedia should not be case sensitive.
Daily Telegraph 04/12/06: Contradiction to header section: "A spokesman for the Office for National Statistics said: "The CPI and RPI are specifically not intended [NOTE] to measure what people often refer to as 'the cost of living'." Contradiction to UK section: "Although the Bank of England has frequently said that the CPI is an acceptable economic measure for the purpose of setting interest rates, it does not include many major costs for households — most notably [NOTE] council tax and mortgage payments, which were an important part of RPI." Felicitygraham 14:43, 4 December 2006 (UTC)
Is it published anywhere online? One would think any article on the CPI would show what is included in it. Is this index not published anywhere? Is it a government secret? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 206.109.195.126 (talk) 06:28, 1 January 2009 (UTC)
Please don't scramble the links again. "External" means that they're external from the calculating and publishing source. Of the five ecternal links 4 are about the hedonics and 1 about substitution of goods. Understand?--Jerryseinfeld 01:34, 5 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Ireland, too: http://www.oasis.gov.ie/consumer_affairs/consumer_price_index.html
Why do they take out energy and food prices?
"They" presumably means the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Energy and food prices are removed to calculate 'core' inflation (the BLS refers to that measure as 'all items less food and energy'). Core inflation has several meanings, but it is commonly meant to be the underlying trend in price inflation. Other calculations are possible, and Comparing Measures of Core Inflation provides an overview of several common definitions.
Does this make people stop using them?
This question is argumentative and uneducated.
What would be the real inflation rate, if you add back everything they take out?
That is called the 'headline' or 'all-items' definition. Both the headline rate and the core rate are available from the BLS website.
What is the value of the CPI when you are going broke paying for energy and food?
The headline rate is used for indexing labor contracts and social security payments and is commonly reported in the press. Like any summary statistic, it does not address the circumstances of any specific individual.
The "U.S. Consumer Price Index webpage" link under External Links is not working. I've not tried all links, since I'm primarily interested in the CPI at the moment. 69.6.162.160 16:57, 28 March 2006 (UTC)Brian Pearson
I've reverted "Calculating the CPI" to a version of the section from the history before it was spammed and the content removed (replaced with words "bold text"). Check through, those in the know? Thanks -- Chris Wood 20:16, 2 April 2006 (UTC)
______ I'm new to the wikipedia thing and discussion, so please if I am doing something wrong by typing this let me know. The article did not make it very clear what "chained" meant. I am not an economist. Could someone with expertise explain it?
I also don't understand the explanation of "chained." And what the heck is a "Tornqvist formula"?
What evidence do we have that the CPI is only an urban index? My understanding is that is a wider measure than that. In Australia, rural prices and suburban prices are measured as well. Capitalistroadster 07:01, 3 June 2006 (UTC)
I would like to understand what factors and weighs make up the index. For example, transportation: cost of vehicle, cost of gas, cost of insurance, cost of maintenance--- and the extent the ratio has changed or stayed the same? most of the people I know express the view that the CPI doesn't reflect their personal experience with inflation, such as the rising cost of medical treatment and medical insurance. ----Don Becker, June 15, 2006
The request seconded: why the intro speaks only of "urban households"? Of course in a subsistence economy the distinction of rural/urban is drastic, but in modern societies that should be levelled out, in te4rms of consumer goods. `'mikka (t) 17:49, 23 August 2006 (UTC)
The intro was changed to refer to consumers instead of urban households". The article refered to urban households because the U.S. CPI only measures prices in urban areas with rural areas left out. I am not sure if other countries do this, but since this is a general article that is not speicific to the U.S., I removed it. I will try to create a U.S. specific article when I have time. ---Jhamilton2087, August 25, 2006
The CPI is revised on a continuing basis to compensate for the introduction of new products and outlets. [1] An example would be that if the price of beef rises, consumers would switch to chicken. This distorts the index because it allows for the continual degration of products that are rising in price in the index until the consumer it represents is living on millet and powdered milk.
For the American (and maybe others, I don't know) CPI the first part of the quote is correct while the second part is not. New products (goods and services, to be more correct) and outlets do get added to the index on a continual basis. When the older goods and services are no longer offered new ones are added in their place and through continual replacement of what is used in the index. A switch from beef to chicken would be reflected in the index when new goods and services are added.
The American CPI also takes into account inflation when consumers start "living on millet and powdered milk." When goods and services are replaced "quality adjustments" to the items and their prices.
The introductory paragraphs to this article are not very friendly and are, I presume, written from an American perspective. For instance, the introduction speaks of 'the CPI' when there are slightly different measures around the world, and Core CPI, whatever that may be, reads as though it's specific to one part of the world. Hence I think this article could do with a cleanup or a
tag being put on until it is cleaned. Matthew 12:56, 22 February 2007 (UTC)
I've tried to clean up the two new sections added on 'Weighting' and 'Quality adjustment'. I'm afraid the QA section was just a mess and I could not make heads or tails out of the intent nor could I verify any of the content. I've left in the weighting section since it could be made legible, but I would greatly appriciate specific references to the numerous 'conclusions' made within the text. At the moment, both sections felt more like a term paper than a encyclopedia entry. It would be great to clean them up and get the content in, but let's get it sourced specifically first. Kuru talk 02:01, 8 August 2007 (UTC)
According to everything I have read including this article, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumer_Price_Index_%28United_Kingdom%29 the retail price index and the consumer price index are completley different things, so why does RPI redirect here? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Comrinec (talk • contribs) 17:50, 25 May 2008 (UTC)
I totally agree here: They are not the same and the re-direct needs to be removed. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.48.56.162 (talk) 12:37, 18 July 2008 (UTC)
What are "headline CPI rate" and "core CPI"?. --Mac (talk) 12:47, 30 May 2008 (UTC)
The so called "core" CIP that removes food and energy is totally misleading. Food and energy prices may be volatile but 1) food is one of the most basic human needs and 2) the price of food is largely determined by the price of energy at today's oil prices and 3) we no longer have the ability through technology to bring down the cost of these two components. The green revolution increased crop yields by a remarkably constant amount from 1944-2000, meaning the percent increase has decreased over time (initially something like 5%, now something like 1%, headed to 0%). The other issue is rising real oil prices due to depletion and much higher production costs.Phmoreno (talk) 01:14, 29 September 2010 (UTC)
Surprised to see the tax percentage as 43%. What effect does not counting taxes as a cost of living have? If my taxes go up(or down) you would think that everything would have to be reweighted. Also are there weights for different income groups - I bought my house many years ago - it is all paid for - now paying taxes on the house is proportionally worse than the motrgage every was.159.105.80.220 (talk) 13:59, 6 January 2011 (UTC)
It has been argued that changes in 1980 and 1990 of how CPI is calculated grossly underestimates the inflation rate and effectively hides the real rate. The benefit to an endebted government would be to reduce its debt obligation to various programs (eg, Social Security) and lenders, where debt is tied to inflation based, potentiall, on CPI, in real value terms of the debt.
http://www.shadowstats.com/alternate_data/inflation-charts —Preceding unsigned comment added by 190.43.225.11 (talk) 07:58, 22 April 2011 (UTC)
Since 2000 or maybe from beginning day of the trade, the consumer price index is always increasing? For example, our house was purchased in 2000 in 70,000RMB, but today it would be valued at 200,000RMB. So I wonder what's the significance of GDP per capita growth? While in consumer electronics products, the price is always falling down. Can anyone analyze this? And give me an economic living way or even investment scheme.118.123.200.135 (talk) 07:29, 16 July 2011 (UTC)
Re [1] - these are actually fairly standard and legitimate (hence, not POV), though I would describe these issues more as "difficulties" rather than "criticisms", and yes, the text does need sources.Volunteer Marek 18:26, 14 March 2013 (UTC)
142.59.138.181 added the following:
The sentiment may be appropriate that something like this could help communicate to people with a math phobia. However, I perceive two problems with this:
Accordingly, I'm changing this as follows:
DavidMCEddy (talk) 22:20, 16 April 2013 (UTC)
I’m trying to find a the price of a 1971 Chicago Schwinn Bicycle Massey4565 (talk) 11:23, 23 April 2018 (UTC)
Dr. Diewert has reviewed this Wikipedia page, and provided us with the following comments to improve its quality:
This article looks OK to me.
We hope Wikipedians on this talk page can take advantage of these comments and improve the quality of the article accordingly.
Dr. Diewert has published scholarly research which seems to be relevant to this Wikipedia article:
ExpertIdeasBot (talk) 15:00, 4 June 2015 (UTC)
@Cjtkrt2014: I'm confused: ((Redirect|CPI (M))) translates to '"CPI (M)" redirects here. For other uses, see CPI (M) (disambiguation).' However no such redirect exists, at least when I tested it after seeing it and before writing this.
I'm therefore reverting it. "CPI", however, did redirect to this article. See also Template:Redirect.
Thanks for your efforts to improve Wikipedia. User:CodeTalker reverted your change. If you create other changes that support this, you may want to restore your change. DavidMCEddy (talk) 21:35, 8 July 2021 (UTC)