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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
Ian Crawford
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: 17 April 2024).
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