The CPI – Consumer Price Index – checks the cost of consumer items bought by the average household. This is checked 4 times a year to see whether inflation is a problem.
Listen to October 22nd 2008 and July 20th 2011 to hear more about the CPI and inflation.
Statistics New Zealand recently showed the changes in the CPI basket of goods over the last 100 years. It shows some surprising changes but also some changes which we can probably guess.
For example, tobacco was one product in the personal goods basket in 1914 but probably not today. In 1949, toothpaste, soap, lipstick and hair perms were added. Did people make their own soap before 1949? What did they use to clean their teeth? In 1980, disposable nappies were added and in 2006, hair perms were removed.
In 1914, coal and firewood were bought by average households. Clothes irons were added to the CPI basket in 1924. In 1949, candles were removed. By that time, most people had electric light. Clothes driers were added in 1974, plastic food wrap in 1980, microwaves in 1988 and heat pumps in 2008. Matches were removed in 1988 and brooms were removed in 2008.
The technology basket had very little in it before 1949 when washing machines, radios and vacuum cleaners appeared for the first time. In 1955 the average household had a refrigerator and sewing machine. In 1965, they had a black and white TV. Home computers were common by 1988 and in 2002, DVD players were added to the basket. CDs disappeared from the basket in 1993.
In 1974, domestic air fares were added for the first time. The average household spent money on flying to other cities in New Zealand instead of using other kinds of transport. The radio licence was removed that year and TV licence removed in 1999. That year, cell phones and internet service were added to the basket.
Food changes will be the subject of a future post.
Go to cpi changes to read the changes for yourself.
Vocabulary
• Inflation – increase in the cost of living
• basket – here it means items added on the list, not in a real basket
• disposable nappies – babies’ nappies which you throw away instead of washing them
Grammar
‘over the last hundred years’ – this is the same as ‘during the last hundred years’
Questions
1. Compare these changes with over the last hundred years with changes in your country. Were they similar or very different?
2. Can you explain why some items were removed e.g. tobacco, matches, hair perms, brooms, radio and TV licences
3. Think about society before some of these items were available e.g. refrigerators. How was life different without these items?