> In 1986, Harvard’s tuition was $10,266 ($27,914 adjusted for inflation). Today, Harvard’s tuition is $52,659, representing an 89 percent increase in real cost

> In 1986, Harvard’s tuition was $10,266 ($27,914 adjusted for inflation). Today, Harvard’s tuition is $52,659, representing an 89 percent increase in real cost. I'm assuming this calculation was run using a standard inflation adjustment. However, Harvard is in the Boston metro, which has experienced significantly more housing inflation than the country as a whole. (This matters because housing costs filter through the entire local economy.) Would be interesting to tease out how much of the price increase is a direct result of the increase in housing costs driven by the failure of housing policy. Edit: The St. Louis Fed has the Boston housing index increasing from 86.15 in January 1986 to 426.44 in July 2022. BLS's inflation calculator puts $86.15 of buying power in 1986 being equivalent to $232.88 in July 2022. So it would appear that housing alone could be responsible for roughly half of the increase. Given the increase in healthcare costs over the period, it would also be interesting to do a similar analysis around those numbers.