— but Instacart charges a premium over Costco’s low prices. While my weekly box of Cheerios has become more expensive, the government statistics infer that if neither the price of Cheerios at Costco nor the price of Cheerios from Instacart has changed, there must be no Cheerios-related inflation. (By contrast, in normal times people tend to flock to cheaper outlets, so this “outlet bias” usually leads official statistics to understate inflation.) Even as the price tags on these products haven’t changed much, their quality has declined, which is a hidden form of price increase ignored by the official inflation numbers. Bikes, dumbbells, bread makers (or even just yeast), camping equipment or Nintendos are hard to find at any price.

Source: New York Times September 02, 2020 09:00 UTC