Questions We Can Help You To Answer

Paper instructions:

In this post you should describe the current state of the American economy using inflation statistics which are discussed in Chapter 9 of your text.  At a minimum you should address the following questions/issues which focus on using the Consumer Price Index (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.:

-What does the Consumer Price Index measure?

-What is the current (12 month) inflation rate as measured by the Consumer Price Index?

-Describe the pattern of the Consumer Price Index over the past ten years?

-Why is the Consumer Price Index likely more relevant to your own personal economic situation as compared to the other measures of inflation discussed in Chapter 9?

--How might your personal inflation rate differ from the average inflation rate as measured by the Consumer Price Index? Please refer to the “Price Changes” chart below. How might a rapid rise in inflation harm you?  How might a rapid rise in inflation help you?  Explain.

-Is inflation a major economic concern for policy makers at the present time?

Primary Data Sources:  You can find everything you need to know about the Consumer Price Index (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. at the Consumer Price Index page on the Bureau of Labor Statistics (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. website: https://www.bls.gov/cpi/ (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.  Go see FRED:  https://fred.stlouisfed.org/ (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

-The FRED Policy Dashboard: https://research.stlouisfed.org/dashboard/8781 (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. is a good source to review the key macro indicators that we are studying in Econ 2 Online.