When people change their habits in life the CPI is changed to reflect what that life costs. Up here in Canada, the CPI is also adjusted from spending surveys:
Do you think coal and lard should be included, like they were in Canada pre-1956? Or do you think the CPI should try to model reality?
> […] meaning the data isn't reliable over time.
It is meaningful in that life now and life ten or twenty or more years ago was different in what people purchased. That should be reflected in measures that model consumer spending.
Yes? Of course? They are based on spending surveys:
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumer_Expenditure_Survey
When people change their habits in life the CPI is changed to reflect what that life costs. Up here in Canada, the CPI is also adjusted from spending surveys:
* https://www.statcan.gc.ca/en/survey/household/3508
You can see the list of changes going back to 1913:
* https://www.statcan.gc.ca/en/statistical-programs/document/2...
Do you think coal and lard should be included, like they were in Canada pre-1956? Or do you think the CPI should try to model reality?
> […] meaning the data isn't reliable over time.
It is meaningful in that life now and life ten or twenty or more years ago was different in what people purchased. That should be reflected in measures that model consumer spending.