Obviously, I don't know the full story, but one thing the three things I named have in common is relatively inelastic demand. In the case of education and heal

Obviously, I don't know the full story, but one thing the three things I named have in common is relatively inelastic demand. In the case of education and healthcare, I suspect Baumol's cost disease is also a factor. Cars and other manufactured goods tend to get cheaper over time because they can take advantage of economies of scale, as well as global supply chains and free trade. We're seeing that very concretely right now as the global chip shortage has put pressure on the used car market. Education, housing, and healthcare are largely unaffected by free trade, and Baumol's cost disease is literally a statement about how certain industries cannot take advantage of economies of scale. Come to think of it, let's also toss childcare in the bucket of "things that have gotten more expensive faster than inflation over time" since, among households with children, we have a predominance of households where all parents who are present work. Again, we have inelastic demand and Baumol's cost disease rearing their ugly heads, so maybe there's something to this theory.