Understanding Inflation In Economics
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Definition of Inflation Inflation is a sustained increase in the
general price level. It means that there will be an increase in the cost of
living and people will need more money to buy the same goods.
How is Inflation Measured?
To measure inflation, government's undertake a price survey and also a survey
to find out a typical basket of goods.
The first thing the government need to do when measuring inflation is to
discover a typical basket of goods. This enables the goods to be given a
weighting, depending on how influential they are. For example spending on
gasoline may account for 12% of the total basket. Spending on clothes may
account for 7% and spending on mineral water 1%. Clearly if gasoline prices
increase it will be more important than mineral water.
Every month the government will check prices. The price changes will then be
mulitiplied by the weighting of the goods. This can then be converted into a
price index e.g. in UK the Consumer Price Index CPI is used.
Problems of Measuring Inflation
1. Goods may change in quality. E.g. mobile phones may increase in price but,
this may be due to improvements in features rather than a reflection of
inflation.
2. Some consumers may have different effective rates of inflation. Consumers
who smoke will be effected by rising cigarette prices. Old people who live in
cold houses will be more effected by rising energy prices. Young people may
benefit from falling prices of consumers
Problems / Costs of Inflation - Why is Inflation Bad?
- Rising prices creates uncertainty in the economy. When inflation is high
it also tends to be more volatile and unpredictable. This discourages firms
from investing because they are more uncertain about future costs and future
prices. Lower investment leads to lower economic growth in the long term.
Countries with high rates of inflation tend to have a poorer economic
performance over the medium term.
- Inflationary Growth is unsustainable. If economic growth is above the long
run trend rate then it causes inflation because demand is rising faster than
supply. To reduce inflation, the monetary authorities will increase interest
rates; this will reduce inflationary pressures but at the expense of lower
growth. It could even cause a recession in the long term. Keeping inflation
low will help avoid a boom and bust economic cycle.
- Menu Costs. This is the cost of changing price lists. When prices are
rising, it takes time to update price labels. This has become less significant
with modern technology.
- Shoe Leather Costs. When inflation is high people expend more time and
effort in finding the lowest prices
- Decline in Exports. If a country has inflation higher than its main
trading partners then it will become uncompetitive and sell less exports.
About the Author
Richard Pettinger studied Politics and Economics at Lady Margaret Hall,
Oxford University. He now works as an economics teacher in Oxford. He enjoys
writing essays on Economic and he edits an Economics Blog focused on UK and US
economies:
http://www.economicshelp.org/econ.html
Follow us @Scopulus_News
Article Published/Sorted/Amended on Scopulus 2008-06-10 11:06:03 in Economic Articles
