<p><strong>Edit</strong></p>
<p>I am not sure why this was moved to economics. It's a very basic question about money, that arose because of an <a href="https://money.stackexchange.com/q/154482/109107">I bond investment question</a>. As such it is in my opinion better suited for money stack exchange.</p>
<p>Either way, there are a lot of assumptions or misunderstandings in the statements of the question.</p>
<ul>
<li>Inflation rates as defined in the series are YoY (meaning Nov 22 is the change in price level from between Nov 21 and Nov 22, which is a year.</li>
<li>The pandemic started in 2020, which is now 3 years ago. Insofar, you cannot compare the values easily.</li>
<li>The statement that food and household items doubled or tripled since the pandemic are simply false. There may be some items, but definitely not all food and household items went up &gt;200%. At best, it is based on circumstantial and anecdotal evidence. Do you really think all food and household items doubled?</li>
</ul>
<p>Essentially, since the comparison and statements are wrong, it makes little sense to discuss this in depth.</p>
<p>You can look at <a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.t02.htm" rel="nofollow noreferrer">BLS website</a> for a detailed account. For instance, while food at employee sites literally doubled, uncooked beef roasts declined 8.1%. The values are from Nov.2021-Nov.2022 - meaning the November value is really a change within 12 months as shown in one of your other <a href="https://money.stackexchange.com/a/154484/109107">questions</a>.</p>
<p>Household data also does not support your claim.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/DOR3h.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/DOR3h.png" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
<p>With regards to inflation in general, it is computed looking at a basket of goods and services. Items get weights based on consumption patterns that seem to provide a good average overview. Of course, if you never buy uncooked beef roast and always eat food at employee sites, this will not be representative for you.</p>
<p>Another important aspect since the pandemic is that if initially prices drop for some items a lot, seemingly high increases afterwards are not very pronounced in the long run price level. For example, some food items <a href="https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2020/article/the-impact-of-the-covid-19-pandemic-on-food-price-indexes-and-data-collection.htm" rel="nofollow noreferrer">went down a lot during Covid</a> and bounced back afterwards. using an example from the link,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Export prices for dairy products and eggs fell 5.3 percent from
January to April 2020 before declining 11.9 percent in May 2020. In June 2020, dairy prices
rebounded sharply, increasing 24.5 percent.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Now looking at 24.5% one might think this is crazy, but the actual price level increased only by 3.87% within the entirety period: (1-5.3%)<em>(1-11.9%)</em>(1+24.5%).</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-01-07T00:04:53.210Z
2023-01-07T21:22:35.777Z
2023-01-07T21:22:35.777Z
AKdemy
<p>Three effects are working on this.</p>
<ul>
<li>As other answers (e.g. <a href="https://economics.stackexchange.com/questions/54047/why-highest-inflation-rate-in-us-was-only-9-06-since-pandemic-when-the-price-of/54049#54049">AKdemy</a>) pointed out, inflation is the <strong>average of a basket of goods</strong>. So if the price of beer goes up 10% and the price of new cars goes down 10%, most consumers would feel that &quot;things have gotten more expensive&quot; even if their cost of living actuall went down. That's because they compare the price of a beer with last years' prices, but few people buy a new car every year. So small, everyday purchases affect the perception of inflation more.</li>
<li>Different economic classes use <strong>different baskets of goods</strong>. To take the example above, many people never buy a new car in their entire life, depending on used cars instead. There is the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boots_theory" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Vimes Boots index</a>, named after a fictional character by Terry Pratchett, which looks at the price change of the cheapest staples, not the average price change. There are times when the &quot;Vimes' inflation&quot; is considerably higher than the &quot;official inflation.&quot;</li>
<li>Then there is the question how <strong>changes in the basket of goods</strong> are reported. Say once upon a time, there was a fraction of a cathode ray tube TV set in the basket. Then people started buying flatscreens. So at some point flatscreens were added to the index. Do it too early, and things get distorted because early adopters paid a high price. Do it too late, and things get distorted because CRT TV are not really part of the market any more.</li>
</ul>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-01-07T17:48:21.547Z
I don't quite understand this example: "Say once upon a time, there was a fraction of a cathode ray tube TV set in the basket. Then people started buying flatscreens. So at some point flatscreens were added to the index. Do it too early, and things get distorted because early adopters paid a high price. Do it too late, and things get distorted because CRT TV are not really part of the market any more". What are flatscreens and how does it doing it early or late affect changes in the basket of goods? Thanks.
HelloDarkWorld
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-01-07T19:17:25.147Z
@HelloDarkWorld, today television sets are better than they used to be. A flatscreen TV uses LEDs or OLEDs, which means that you can hang the TV on a wall instead of mounting it *in* a chest. So when you want to track the price of television sets over decades, you cannot compare the same model then and now because the old models are no longer manufactured. At some point the basket had to change. But how do you handle it if the new item is both better and more expensive? If you account for it being better, a customer pays more for "a normal TV set on the market" but it isn't inflation.
o.m.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-01-07T17:41:47.740Z
2023-01-07T17:41:47.740Z
o.m.
<p>In the US, I have noted that essential items such as food or household items have doubled or tripled since the pandemic, but the highest inflation rate was only 9.06% (for June 2022), why?</p>
<p>See: <a href="https://www.rateinflation.com/inflation-rate/usa-inflation-rate/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.rateinflation.com/inflation-rate/usa-inflation-rate/</a></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-01-07T01:40:23.640Z
Do you seriously think prices have doubled or tripled? Do you have any evidence for this whatsoever?
Kevin Carlson
<inflation>
Why highest inflation rate in US was only 9.06% since pandemic when the price of some essential items have doubled or even tripled?
HelloDarkWorld
# Why highest inflation rate in US was only 9.06% since pandemic when the price of some essential items have doubled or even tripled?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2023-01-06)

In the US, I have noted that essential items such as food or household items have doubled or tripled since the pandemic, but the highest inflation rate was only 9.06% (for June 2022), why?

See: <https://www.rateinflation.com/inflation-rate/usa-inflation-rate/>

**Tags:** inflation

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Do you seriously think prices have doubled or tripled? Do you have any evidence for this whatsoever?  

---

## 2 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2023-01-07. Score: 5

**Edit**

I am not sure why this was moved to economics. It's a very basic question about money, that arose because of an [I bond investment question](https://money.stackexchange.com/q/154482/109107). As such it is in my opinion better suited for money stack exchange.

Either way, there are a lot of assumptions or misunderstandings in the statements of the question.

* Inflation rates as defined in the series are YoY (meaning Nov 22 is the change in price level from between Nov 21 and Nov 22, which is a year.
* The pandemic started in 2020, which is now 3 years ago. Insofar, you cannot compare the values easily.
* The statement that food and household items doubled or tripled since the pandemic are simply false. There may be some items, but definitely not all food and household items went up >200%. At best, it is based on circumstantial and anecdotal evidence. Do you really think all food and household items doubled?

Essentially, since the comparison and statements are wrong, it makes little sense to discuss this in depth.

You can look at [BLS website](https://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.t02.htm) for a detailed account. For instance, while food at employee sites literally doubled, uncooked beef roasts declined 8.1%. The values are from Nov.2021-Nov.2022 - meaning the November value is really a change within 12 months as shown in one of your other [questions](https://money.stackexchange.com/a/154484/109107).

Household data also does not support your claim.

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/DOR3h.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/DOR3h.png)

With regards to inflation in general, it is computed looking at a basket of goods and services. Items get weights based on consumption patterns that seem to provide a good average overview. Of course, if you never buy uncooked beef roast and always eat food at employee sites, this will not be representative for you.

Another important aspect since the pandemic is that if initially prices drop for some items a lot, seemingly high increases afterwards are not very pronounced in the long run price level. For example, some food items [went down a lot during Covid](https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2020/article/the-impact-of-the-covid-19-pandemic-on-food-price-indexes-and-data-collection.htm) and bounced back afterwards. using an example from the link,

> Export prices for dairy products and eggs fell 5.3 percent from
> January to April 2020 before declining 11.9 percent in May 2020. In June 2020, dairy prices
> rebounded sharply, increasing 24.5 percent.

Now looking at 24.5% one might think this is crazy, but the actual price level increased only by 3.87% within the entirety period: (1-5.3%)*(1-11.9%)*(1+24.5%).


---

### Answer by username_3 on 2023-01-07. Score: 3

Three effects are working on this.

* As other answers (e.g. [username_2](https://economics.stackexchange.com/questions/54047/why-highest-inflation-rate-in-us-was-only-9-06-since-pandemic-when-the-price-of/54049#54049)) pointed out, inflation is the **average of a basket of goods**. So if the price of beer goes up 10% and the price of new cars goes down 10%, most consumers would feel that "things have gotten more expensive" even if their cost of living actuall went down. That's because they compare the price of a beer with last years' prices, but few people buy a new car every year. So small, everyday purchases affect the perception of inflation more.
* Different economic classes use **different baskets of goods**. To take the example above, many people never buy a new car in their entire life, depending on used cars instead. There is the [Vimes Boots index](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boots_theory), named after a fictional character by Terry Pratchett, which looks at the price change of the cheapest staples, not the average price change. There are times when the "Vimes' inflation" is considerably higher than the "official inflation."
* Then there is the question how **changes in the basket of goods** are reported. Say once upon a time, there was a fraction of a cathode ray tube TV set in the basket. Then people started buying flatscreens. So at some point flatscreens were added to the index. Do it too early, and things get distorted because early adopters paid a high price. Do it too late, and things get distorted because CRT TV are not really part of the market any more.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: I don't quite understand this example: "Say once upon a time, there was a fraction of a cathode ray tube TV set in the basket. Then people started buying flatscreens. So at some point flatscreens were added to the index. Do it too early, and things get distorted because early adopters paid a high price. Do it too late, and things get distorted because CRT TV are not really part of the market any more". What are flatscreens and how does it doing it early or late affect changes in the basket of goods? Thanks.  
> **username_3**: @username_0, today television sets are better than they used to be. A flatscreen TV uses LEDs or OLEDs, which means that you can hang the TV on a wall instead of mounting it *in* a chest. So when you want to track the price of television sets over decades, you cannot compare the same model then and now because the old models are no longer manufactured. At some point the basket had to change. But how do you handle it if the new item is both better and more expensive? If you account for it being better, a customer pays more for "a normal TV set on the market" but it isn't inflation.  

---

