pull down to refresh

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @charonnakamoto 6 Jan \ on: MONEY CLASS OF THE DAY: “The Cost of Living” Is a Stupid Phrase econ
If prices change, it could be because the money itself is changing (first example) but nothing real has taken place; or it could be because of a change in the underlying (real but not money). Or both, and we can't accurate decipher which one; or they come to us with a time lag, and we misattribute the changes.
With both nominal and real changes making things complex, how would you suggest folks attribute price changes accurately? Let us take, for example, the cost of eggs in California(using data from Perplexity here for convenience's sake).
We can attribute it to going from $1.4(in 2019) to $2.8(in 2023), a 100% increase in 4 years due to nominal inflation. We can also attribute it to going from $2.8(in 2023) to $9(in Dec 2024) due to avian flu(H5N1) leading to the culling of hens across farms, which is the real/underlying cause leading to 221% increase in one year. The total price rise from 2019 to the end of 2024 is 540%.
How do you wade through all this complexity to make actionable decisions when govt data is questionable? Are there tools that you use to help attribute underlying vs. nominal causes for price changes?
write
preview