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Articles on Consumer price index (CPI)

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Supporters outside the offices of the Fair Work Commission in Melbourne on Friday, June 1, 2018 after it lifted the minimum wage by 3.5% JOE CASTRO/AAP

The false hope offered by talk of a living wage

Granting low-wage workers a “living wage” instead of a minimum wage is far from costless, and there are much better ways of helping people genuinely in need.
Officially, our inflation rate is lower than at any time since the 1950s, but we’ve reasons for doubting it. Shutterstock

Vital Signs: Why we distrust the consumer price index

Hardly anyone believes that prices are really increasing by only 1.9% per year. The fault lies with us, and also the way the Bureau of Statistics adjusts prices for ‘quality’.
If you want to separate investor demand for property assets from demand for affordable housing, rent is a better indicator than property prices. James Ross/AAP

Rents, not prices, are best to assess housing supply and demand

Property prices have soared in the past decade, but much more modest increases in rent, with the exception of Sydney, suggest less of an imbalance of supply and demand for housing as a place to live.
Treasurer Scott Morrison may be happy with a budget in balance by 2019-20, but the rising burden on individual taxpayers is a worry. Mick Tsikas/AAP

Rising reliance on personal income tax signals need for bolder reforms

Personal income taxpayers are shouldering more of the burden, while less revenue is coming from taxes on companies, capital and consumption. Only major reforms will change these sustained trends.
The glum business sentiment is in sectors related to consumer spending. www.shutterstock.com

Face Value: business leaders nervous about consumers spending less and regulation

Business leaders some sectors are feeling less positive about the year ahead because consumers are spending less, according to our analysis of the outlook of leaders of Australia’s ASX 200 companies.
Even the big, bad Wall Street bull is scared of inflation. AP Photo/Richard Drew

Why does inflation make stock prices fall?

While many market observers blame growing concerns about inflation for the stock market crash, the real culprit may be fears that the economy is about to slow.

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