3 ms·

This is an empirical question (if raising minimum wage effects inflation) so what you expect in terms of inflation doesn't really matter. This isn't a philosoph

This is an empirical question (if raising minimum wage effects inflation) so what you expect in terms of inflation doesn't really matter. This isn't a philosophy question where you can imagine the answer and get a best in class result. Since 2009 people on the Internet have been prophesizing about massive inflation and inflation has been extremely low. Maybe they will one day be right, but like the boy who cried wolf nobody should be listening to warnings about inflation from people on the internet, as a class they don't have any idea what they are talking about.

mjevans 6y ago
Offhand, just from my own crummy bio memory of prices of things... I'd estimate about a 50% increase in food prices in about the last decade. I'd also estimate that the asking price of a house was completely out of whack even post the recession in 2008; it _never_ corrected in any of the west coast areas I live in. Still even that price has continued to go up due to inelastic supply and ever growing demand.
- anotherman554 6y ago
  The government CPI statistics show 18.7% price increase between 2010 and 2020. It's certainly possible that your expenses went up 50% in your presumably super-affluent area of the U.S. It wouldn't surprise me if booming tech companies in certain regions have caused this- but it is not the effect of monetary policy or government minimum wage policy- and my expenses have not gone up much in the last 10 years in my wealthy-but-not super-affluent east coast suburb.
  - ultrarunner 6y ago
    Do government CPI statistics account for "the grocery shrink ray" wherein prices remain fixed but quantities decrease?
    - anotherman554 6y ago
      "The CPI market basket is developed from detailed expenditure information provided by families and individuals on what they actually bought." https://www.bls.gov/cpi/questions-and-answers.htm#Question_3 https://www.bls.gov/cpi/questions-and-answers.htm#Question_3 So if families are buying in lower quantities then yes it would be accounted for.
  - mjevans 6y ago
    My items of observation are mostly based on what I do when I eat out (actually notice the price of a meal) and also for 'snacks' and 'beverages'.

mjevans 6y ago

Offhand, just from my own crummy bio memory of prices of things... I'd estimate about a 50% increase in food prices in about the last decade. I'd also estimate that the asking price of a house was completely out of whack even post the recession in 2008; it _never_ corrected in any of the west coast areas I live in. Still even that price has continued to go up due to inelastic supply and ever growing demand.

anotherman554 6y ago
The government CPI statistics show 18.7% price increase between 2010 and 2020. It's certainly possible that your expenses went up 50% in your presumably super-affluent area of the U.S. It wouldn't surprise me if booming tech companies in certain regions have caused this- but it is not the effect of monetary policy or government minimum wage policy- and my expenses have not gone up much in the last 10 years in my wealthy-but-not super-affluent east coast suburb.
- ultrarunner 6y ago
  Do government CPI statistics account for "the grocery shrink ray" wherein prices remain fixed but quantities decrease?
  - anotherman554 6y ago
    "The CPI market basket is developed from detailed expenditure information provided by families and individuals on what they actually bought." https://www.bls.gov/cpi/questions-and-answers.htm#Question_3 https://www.bls.gov/cpi/questions-and-answers.htm#Question_3 So if families are buying in lower quantities then yes it would be accounted for.
- mjevans 6y ago
  My items of observation are mostly based on what I do when I eat out (actually notice the price of a meal) and also for 'snacks' and 'beverages'.