Food Prices Are Soaring Faster Than Inflation and Incomes

Re:Food Prices Are Soaring Faster Than Inflation and Incomes by ErikAugust on Monday March 08, 2021 @09:24AM (#26386050)

So what gives?

Does anyone have the data sets and the formulas used to calculate the CPI? No, I don't think so, because they are hidden.

Until the data used to calculate the CPI is open, it is all speculation.

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Re:Food Prices Are Soaring Faster Than Inflation and Incomes by fennecfoxen on Monday March 08, 2021 @09:45AM (#26386293)

https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/

Be sure to refer to overview.txt and for more high-level details refer to https://www.bls.gov/cpi/data.htm and https://www.bls.gov/cpi/methods-overview.htm — you might also find relevant information on weighting here https://www.bls.gov/cpi/tables/relative-importance/home.htm

Typical entries in the AP (Average Price) series look like: APU0000701322 2015 M05 1.335

where APU0000701322 is a pound of spaghetti or macaroni, and M05 is May.

I thought of telling you off for spreading misinformation to incite, but I figured that saying it this would gets my point across more strongly.

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Re:Food Prices Are Soaring Faster Than Inflation and Incomes by ErikAugust on Monday March 08, 2021 @01:49PM (#26389838)

An "Average Price" has to be calculated from survey data.

That survey data is what is not open as far as I know: https://www.bls.gov/opub/hom/cpi/data.htm.

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Re:Food Prices Are Soaring Faster Than Inflation and Incomes by edoceo on Monday March 08, 2021 @10:31AM (#26386751)

You made the right choice and those links were helpful.

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Re:Food Prices Are Soaring Faster Than Inflation and Incomes by ed25519FUUU on Monday March 08, 2021 @09:30AM (#26386120)

That’s a good point. The CPI has a huge impact on policy and really just about every financial thing in our lives. It’s kind of insane that we don’t have good visibility and oversight into it!

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