The CSO Consumer Price Index (CPI)’s basket of goods reveals changing tastes and trends in Irish society
For the last 75 years, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) has gathered, analysed and published information on Irish society and the economy. Part of that has included the CPI, which examines what is in our shopping baskets and, over the course of five years, measures inflation based on their prices...
“Generally, the prices are collected every month and then we look at the change in those prices. There are various categories… the categories are weighted as well, based on the level of importance,” Dr Lee-Ann Burke, lecturer at UCC’s Cork University Business School, said...
“A lot happens in two years, a lot happens in five years. In the UK this basket of goods is replaced or reviewed every year,” Dr Burke said...
“It keeps them so up-to-date about what we call in economics, the tastes and preferences of consumers.”...
“Champagne came out and went back in again and people said, ‘The boom is back, the boom is back’. There we go, we were buying more Champagne,” Dr Burke said. “You’ll have things you’ll buy during a boom that you won’t buy during a recession.”...
“When I was looking at this last year, I was thinking if we were to do this now, we’d definitely see hand gel and masks. I don’t know if they are going to play any part now,” Dr Burke said.
Dr Burke said if Ireland was to update the CPI and the list of goods and services every year like the UK, the change in the products would not be as noticeable. However, because it only happens every five years, the changes can sometimes be significant....