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Consumer Price Indices Have a Long History in Official Comparability Statistics

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Consumer Price Indices Have a Long History in Official Comparability Statistics PRICES • PRICES, LABOUR COSTS AND INTEREST RATES CONSUMERPrices, labour costs and interest rates PRICE INDICES Consumer price indices have a long history in official Comparability statistics. They measure the erosion of living standards There are a number of differences in the ways that these through price inflation and are probably one of the best indices are calculated. The most important ones concern known economic statistics used by the media and general the treatment of dwelling costs, the adjustments made for public. changes in the quality of goods and services, the frequency Definition with which the basket weights are updated, and the index formulae used. In particular, country methodologies for the Consumer price indices (CPI) measure the change in the treatment of owner-occupied housing vary significantly. prices of a basket of goods and services that are typically The European Harmonized Indices of Consumer Prices purchased by specific groups of households. The CPI shown (HICP) exclude owner-occupied housing as do national CPIs in these tables cover virtually all households except for for Belgium, Chile, Estonia, France, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, “institutional” households – people in prisons and military Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, the United Kingdom barracks, for example – and, in some countries, households and most of the countries outside the OECD area. For the in the highest income group. United Kingdom, the national CPI is the same as the HICP. The CPI for all items excluding food and energy provides a The European Union and euro area CPI refer to the HICP measure of underlying inflation, which is less affected by published by Eurostat and cover the 27 and 17 countries short-term effects. The index for food covers food and non- respectively for the entire period of the time series. alcoholic beverages but excludes purchases in restaurants. The index for energy covers all forms of energy, including fuels for motor vehicles, heating and other household uses. Overview In the three years to 2010, annual inflation has been below 4.5% in all OECD countries except Hungary, Iceland, Mexico and Turkey. The CPI for the OECD total has dropped from 4.2% in the three years to 1999 to 2.0% for the three years to 2010. Over the entire period covered by the table, Japan experienced Sources negative inflation while Hungary, Mexico, Turkey, Iceland, • OECD (2011), Main Economic Indicators, OECD Publishing. the Slovak Republic and Slovenia experienced substantial inflation. Further information Annual inflation has been significantly higher outside the Analytical publications OECD area, with annual increases above 10% in India and the •Brook, A.M. et al. (2004), “Oil Price Developments: Drivers, Russian Federation in the three years to 2010. Economic Consequences and Policy Responses”, Since 1997, consumer prices for energy have recorded large OECD Economics Department Working Papers, No. 412. swings, with spikes in 2000, 2005, 2008 and again in 2010 (after • OECD (2011), OECD Economic Outlook, OECD Publishing. a sharp decrease in 2009). Across OECD countries, annual inflation for food has been decreasing since 2009 after a Methodological publications regular increase between 2005 and 2008. When excluding • International Labour Office (ILO) et al. (2004), Consumer these more volatile items, the underlying consumer price Price Index Manual: Theory and Practice, ILO, Geneva. index (i.e. all items excluding food and energy) points to a • OECD (2011), Main Economic Indicators, OECD Publishing. progressive decline until 2010 with a period of stability at • OECD (2002), “Comparative Methodological Analysis: annual rates of around 2.0% between 2003 and 2008. In the Consumer and Producer Price Indices”, Main Economic three years to 2010, the CPI excluding food and energy fell Indicators, Volume 2002, Supplement 2, OECD Publishing. in Ireland and Japan, while increasing by around 9% per year in Iceland. Websites • OECD Main Economic Indicators, www.oecd.org/std/mei. 108 OECD FACTBOOK 2011 © OECD 2011 PRICES • PRICES, LABOUR COSTS AND INTEREST RATES CONSUMER PRICE INDICES CPI: all items Annual growth in percentage 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 Australia 0.3 0.9 1.5 4.5 4.4 3.0 2.8 2.3 2.7 3.5 2.3 4.4 1.8 2.8 Austria 1.3 0.9 0.6 2.3 2.7 1.8 1.4 2.1 2.3 1.4 2.2 3.2 0.5 1.8 Belgium 1.6 0.9 1.1 2.5 2.5 1.6 1.6 2.1 2.8 1.8 1.8 4.5 -0.1 2.2 Canada 1.6 1.0 1.7 2.7 2.5 2.3 2.8 1.9 2.2 2.0 2.1 2.4 0.3 1.8 Chile 6.1 5.1 3.3 3.8 3.6 2.5 2.8 1.1 3.1 3.4 4.4 8.7 0.4 1.4 Czech Republic 8.5 10.7 2.1 3.9 4.7 1.8 0.1 2.8 1.9 2.6 3.0 6.3 1.0 1.5 Denmark 2.2 1.8 2.5 2.9 2.4 2.4 2.1 1.2 1.8 1.9 1.7 3.4 1.3 2.3 Estonia .. 8.7 3.3 4.0 5.7 3.6 1.3 3.0 4.1 4.4 6.6 10.4 -0.1 3.0 Finland 1.2 1.4 1.2 3.0 2.6 1.6 0.9 0.2 0.6 1.6 2.5 4.1 0.0 1.2 France 1.2 0.6 0.5 1.7 1.6 1.9 2.1 2.1 1.7 1.7 1.5 2.8 0.1 1.5 Germany 1.9 1.0 0.6 1.4 1.9 1.5 1.0 1.7 1.5 1.6 2.3 2.6 0.4 1.1 Greece 5.5 4.8 2.6 3.2 3.4 3.6 3.5 2.9 3.5 3.2 2.9 4.2 1.2 4.7 Hungary 18.3 14.2 10.0 9.8 9.1 5.3 4.7 6.7 3.6 3.9 8.0 6.0 4.2 4.9 Iceland 1.8 1.7 3.2 5.1 6.4 5.2 2.1 3.2 4.0 6.7 5.1 12.7 12.0 5.4 Ireland 1.4 2.4 1.6 5.6 4.9 4.6 3.5 2.2 2.4 3.9 4.9 4.1 -4.5 -0.9 Israel 9.0 5.4 5.2 1.1 1.1 5.7 0.7 -0.4 1.3 2.1 0.5 4.6 3.3 2.7 Italy 2.0 2.0 1.7 2.5 2.8 2.5 2.7 2.2 2.0 2.1 1.8 3.3 0.8 1.5 Japan 1.8 0.7 -0.3 -0.7 -0.8 -0.9 -0.2 0.0 -0.3 0.2 0.1 1.4 -1.4 -0.7 Korea 4.4 7.5 0.8 2.3 4.1 2.8 3.5 3.6 2.8 2.2 2.5 4.7 2.8 2.9 Luxembourg 1.4 1.0 1.0 3.2 2.7 2.1 2.0 2.2 2.5 2.7 2.3 3.4 0.4 2.3 Mexico 20.6 15.9 16.6 9.5 6.4 5.0 4.5 4.7 4.0 3.6 4.0 5.1 5.3 4.2 Netherlands 2.2 2.0 2.2 2.3 4.2 3.3 2.1 1.2 1.7 1.2 1.6 2.5 1.2 1.3 New Zealand 1.2 1.3 -0.1 2.6 2.6 2.7 1.8 2.3 3.0 3.4 2.4 4.0 2.1 2.3 Norway 2.6 2.3 2.3 3.1 3.0 1.3 2.5 0.5 1.5 2.3 0.7 3.8 2.2 2.4 Poland 14.9 11.6 7.2 9.9 5.4 1.9 0.7 3.4 2.2 1.3 2.4 4.2 3.8 2.6 Portugal 2.3 2.8 2.3 2.9 4.4 3.6 3.3 2.4 2.3 3.1 2.5 2.6 -0.8 1.4 Slovak Republic 6.1 6.7 10.6 12.0 7.3 3.1 8.6 7.5 2.7 4.5 2.8 4.6 1.6 1.0 Slovenia 8.4 7.9 6.2 8.9 8.4 7.5 5.6 3.6 2.5 2.5 3.6 5.7 0.9 1.8 Spain 2.0 1.8 2.3 3.4 3.6 3.1 3.0 3.0 3.4 3.5 2.8 4.1 -0.3 1.8 Sweden 0.7 -0.3 0.5 0.9 2.4 2.2 1.9 0.4 0.5 1.4 2.2 3.4 -0.5 1.2 Switzerland 0.5 0.0 0.8 1.6 1.0 0.6 0.6 0.8 1.2 1.1 0.7 2.4 -0.5 0.7 Turkey 85.7 84.6 64.9 54.9 54.4 45.0 21.6 8.6 8.2 9.6 8.8 10.4 6.3 8.6 United Kingdom 1.8 1.6 1.3 0.8 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.3 2.0 2.3 2.3 3.6 2.2 3.3 United States 2.3 1.6 2.2 3.4 2.8 1.6 2.3 2.7 3.4 3.2 2.9 3.8 -0.4 1.6 Euroarea 1.7 1.2 1.2 2.2 2.4 2.3 2.1 2.2 2.2 2.2 2.1 3.3 0.3 1.6 EU27 total 7.3 4.6 3.0 3.5 3.2 2.5 2.1 2.3 2.3 2.3 2.4 3.7 1.0 2.1 OECD total 4.8 4.2 3.6 4.0 3.7 2.8 2.4 2.3 2.6 2.6 2.5 3.7 0.5 1.9 Brazil 6.9 3.2 4.9 7.0 6.8 8.5 14.7 6.6 6.9 4.2 3.6 5.7 4.9 5.0 China 2.8 -0.8 -1.4 0.4 0.7 -0.8 1.2 3.9 1.8 1.5 4.8 5.9 -0.7 3.3 India 7.2 13.2 4.7 4.0 3.8 4.3 3.8 3.8 4.2 5.8 6.4 8.3 10.9 12.0 Indonesia 6.2 58.4 20.5 3.7 11.5 11.9 6.8 6.1 10.5 13.1 6.4 10.2 4.4 5.1 Russian Federation 14.7 27.8 85.7 20.8 21.5 15.8 13.7 10.9 12.7 9.7 9.0 14.1 11.7 6.9 South Africa 8.6 6.9 5.2 5.3 5.7 9.5 5.7 -0.7 2.1 3.2 6.2 10.1 7.2 4.1 1 2 http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/888932504291 CPI: all items Average annual growth in percentage 3-year average at the end of period 3-year average at the beginning of period 17.7 26.6 78.1 39.6 15 10 5 0 -5 1 2 http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/888932504310 OECD FACTBOOK 2011 © OECD 2011 109 PRICES • PRICES, LABOUR COSTS AND INTEREST RATES CONSUMER PRICE INDICES CPI: all items non-food non-energy Annual growth in percentage 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 Australia -0.2 0.8 1.1 4.2 4.3 3.1 2.5 2.1 2.2 2.1 2.5 3.6 2.4 2.7 Austria 1.1 1.2 0.7 1.7 2.6 2.2 1.4 1.8 1.7 0.9 1.6 1.9 1.8 1.4 Belgium 1.3 1.4 1.3 1.5 2.3 2.2 1.7 1.6 1.9 0.9 1.6 1.8 2.1 1.3 Canada 1.6 1.4 1.5 1.7 2.1 2.7 2.4 1.3 1.3 1.3 2.0 1.0 1.7 1.2 Chile .
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