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> I can’t imagine what gave you that idea. I can't imagine it being that hard to imagine :) considering this is the second paragraph of wikipedia[1]: Prices w
by mehrdada 5y ago
> I can’t imagine what gave you that idea.
I can't imagine it being that hard to imagine :) considering this is the second paragraph of wikipedia[1]:
Prices will not all increase at the same rates. Attaching a representative value to a set of prices is an instance of the index number problem. The consumer price index is often used for this purpose; the employment cost index is used for wages in the United States. Differential movement between consumer prices and wages constitutes a change in the standard of living.
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflation
- softwarebeware 5y agoSo…not an arbitrary number.
- mehrdada 5y agoPrecisely as arbitrary as how you choose to measure it, or more.
- ethanbond 5y agoConsidering that, say, 100% of tech employees are consumers and CPI measures cost increases for consumers, it may be “arbitrary” but still highly relevant.
- mehrdada 5y agoFor instance, if my employees are earning 500k+ and driving Teslas, I don't think the price of oil, lettuce and tomato, and even general rental market would be materially impactful like, say, the increase in Los Altos home prices. What really makes a difference is how much a competitor is willing to pay, their scale, their work environment, and how well they sell themselves.
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- syrrim 5y agoAny given measure of inflation is arbitrary, that doesn't mean the phenomenon itself is. Compare a concept like obesity and a common measure like BMI.
- 314 5y agoThe claim that the OP made was that inflation is an arbitrary number. The underlying phenomenon is not a number, more accurately it would be a vector containing all price deltas and any particular inflation measure is an arbitrary choice of how to project that vector onto a number. There is some validity to the claim. BMI is an interesting choice of comparison as many of the flaws in the measure are related to the arbitrary way that different body types produce different ranges.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]