The point they are making is that the inflation index doesn't properly account for increase in quality that these technological innovations are offering. In fac

The point they are making is that the inflation index doesn't properly account for increase in quality that these technological innovations are offering. In fact many measures treat a 1992 cell phone as an interchangeable good with a 2019 state of the art smartphone and in that basket of goods the cost of a phone has risen substantially. Never mind that the 2014 phone that's free with a contract can do stuff that in 1992 we didn't even imagine a phone doing. Similarly, by treating health care as a single good and ignoring all the new treatments that get introduced we see the cost of healthcare is dramatically up. But the cost of getting a treatment that didn't exist in the time period was infinity. Regardless, patient outcomes are better too on a per condition basis so the treatment quality has gone up too. I'm not sure many people would take the option to pay a 1970 price for a 1970 standard of health care if they could have that choice now. But the inflation indices treat 1970 healthcare and 2019 healthcare as almost interchangeable. For education, my 2nd year undergrad course used a textbook that was a grad school book at MIT in the 1960's so the material being taught has advanced too. Again, interchangeable good in the index. If inflation is wrong, then most measures of inequality are also wrong because inflation adjusted incomes are wrong.