Learning Exercise
Consumer Price Index Assignment
This excercise requires students to use the Consumer Price Index to measure the change in nominal wages and real income over a specific time period.
Course: Principles of Economics
- Material:
- U.S.Bureau of Labor Statistics - Most Requested Series
- Date last modified:
- May 16, 2000
- Created by:
- Jeff D. Gibbs
- License:
-
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Exercise
The student is expected to measure the change in prices ( nominal income) over their lifetime using the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Students should access the Bureau of Labor Statistics Most Requested Series Website. They should enter the CPI - US- all items and then CPI- All urban consumers data site. Identifying the stated base year, students should 1) record the corresponding CPI coeffecient reported on their date of birth 2) record the latest CPI coeffecient reported and 3) compute the difference in nominal income over this time period. Students could also be asked to calculate the real value of $1 in the year they were born and use the Average Price Index to make a list of commodities that dollar would have purchaced.
Topics
Price indexes, &
Time value of money