Downloads
![Image representing the file: comm90.pdf](/sites/default/files/output_url_files/comm90.pdf_0.jpg)
comm90.pdf
PDF | 622.33 KB
The main measure of inflation in the UK is the retail price index (RPI). One way to think of the RPI is as a measure of the changing cost of buying a very large shopping basket containing all of the purchases of a typical UK household. There is, of course, no such thing as a typical household. As a result, inflation varies across the household population, and it would be remarkable if the RPI were a good measure of inflation for every household. This IFS commentary explores the issues surrounding the extent and the implications of differences in inflation rates between households.
Authors
![Person graphic](/sites/default/files/styles/square_desktop/public/2022-06/IFS-person-graphic.png?itok=hWCtTSrz)
Ian Crawford
![Person graphic](/sites/default/files/styles/square_desktop/public/2022-06/IFS-person-graphic.png?itok=hWCtTSrz)
Head of Data Services
Zoe is Head of Data Services. She joined the IFS in 1998 as a researcher and moved into Data Services in 2011.
Report details
- DOI
- 10.1920/co.ifs.2002.0090
- ISBN
- 978-1-903274-26-2
- Publisher
- IFS
Suggested citation
Crawford, I and Oldfield, Z. (2002). Distributional aspects of inflation. London: IFS. Available at: https://ifs.org.uk/publications/distributional-aspects-inflation (accessed: 30 June 2024).
Press release
More from IFS
Understand this issue
![Child drawing](/sites/default/files/styles/square_desktop/public/2024-04/child-drawing_0.jpg?itok=Qq8x74st)
Sure Start achieved its aims, then we threw it away
15 April 2024
![Nice houses with city in the background](/sites/default/files/styles/square_desktop/public/2023-12/nice-houses-with-city-in-background_0.jpg?itok=TDx-TwSe)
Social mobility and wealth
12 December 2023
![Row of terraced houses](/sites/default/files/styles/square_desktop/public/2023-07/Row-of-terraced-houses.jpg?itok=V4XeVn72)
How important is the Bank of Mum and Dad?
15 December 2023
Policy analysis
![Shopping street](/sites/default/files/styles/square_desktop/public/2024-06/Street-scene-.jpg?itok=R39cR6Xp)
How do the last five years measure up on levelling up?
19 June 2024
![Mother with sons](/sites/default/files/styles/square_desktop/public/2024-06/Mother-with-sons.jpg?itok=YhJmjOrZ)
The two-child limit: poverty, incentives and cost
17 June 2024
![Elderly couple looking at paperwork](/sites/default/files/styles/square_desktop/public/2024-06/elderly%20couple%20feature.jpg?itok=6tgAqkZa)
Pensions: five key decisions for the next government
7 June 2024
Academic research
![Fiscal Studies - 2024 - June cover](/sites/default/files/styles/portrait/public/2024-06/Fiscal%20Studies%20-%202024%20-%20-%20June%20cover.jpg?itok=mQEwRc_w)
Income inequality in Ireland, 1987–2019
28 June 2024
![Fiscal Studies - 2024 - June cover](/sites/default/files/styles/portrait/public/2024-06/Fiscal%20Studies%20-%202024%20-%20-%20June%20cover.jpg?itok=mQEwRc_w)
Components of the evolution of income inequality in Sweden, 1990–2021
28 June 2024
![Working Paper Cover](/sites/default/files/styles/portrait/public/2024-06/WP202425-The-intergenerational-elasticity-of-earnings-exploring-the-mechanisms_Page_01.jpg?itok=BhqlYpqX)
The intergenerational elasticity of earnings: Exploring the mechanisms
3 June 2024