Cost of Living Indices: Why Use Them? — Brian Romanchuk

One technical issue that comes up when looking at consumer price indices is that the concept of a “cost of living index” comes up. This is a technical definition, as opposed to the vaguely defined notion of a “cost of living” that is used in popular discussion.

In most of my writing, I aim to explain technical concepts and debates in plain English. In this case, I am not going to attempt it. My feeling is that the specifics of this technical debate are not going to be meaningful to a general audience. Meanwhile, my attempt at explaining it may be more confusing that just reading the literature for someone with a technical background. Instead, I am just going to give a simplified explanation of why this debate happened in the first place, with just a tease of the underlying issues (as I understand it).

Bond Economics
Cost of Living Indices: Why Use Them?
Brian Romanchuk