¹Office for National Statistics

Describes the introduction of the personal inflation calculator, which allows people to gain a better understanding of how price changes affect them and inflation estimates are produced.

This article describes the introduction by the Office for National Statistics of a personal inflation calculator on the National Statistics website. A separate article (O’Donoghue, 2007) established that inflation rates for individuals are likely to vary, because their personal patterns of consumption are unlikely to exactly mirror the 650 items that are priced to calculate the retail prices index (RPI). The personal inflation calculator allows people to gain a better understanding of how price changes affect them and of how inflation estimates are produced by calculating an inflation rate appropriate to their own spending on the main categories of goods and services.

Full Version

The Full Text of this article can be found on the National Statistics website (http://www.statistics.gov.uk/elmr/01_07/downloads/ELMR01_07Powell.pdf).