TVs Are A Better Value Than They Were In 2000
The process for tracking the price of everything isn’t easy. In many cases, Bureau of Labor Statistics workers will — based on data from its regular Consumer Expenditure Surveys — visit certain stores to take monthly measurements of how much groceries cost, or scour America’s biggest pharmacies to assess whether we’re having to spend more on average to buy new medication this month than we were just four weeks earlier. For other goods, some more considered calculation is required.
On the face of it, BLS data shows that television sets now cost 98% less than they did at the turn of the century, while the prices of other goods and services have skyrocketed in the same time frame. But as Steve Reed, an economist for the Bureau of Labor Statistics, explained to Sherwood News, it’s not quite that simple.
Think of a TV from the year 2000. It’s probably a big, ugly block sitting in the corner of a living room. Maybe there’s a VHS player sitting above or below it, there are buttons beneath the thick glass display, and the brand name is proudly displayed front and center on the box itself. Clearly things have moved on a lot in the world of televisions since then, and the BLS, specifically in the way it measures price points for the changing technology, has kept close behind.
Learn more about common CPI misconceptions here.