RE >What about tubes of toothpaste that go from 6.5 ounces to 6 ounces yet >charge the same price? Has anyone watched the price of, say, pet >supplies over the past 5-10 years?
The BLS does attempt to take these sort of things into account. It is a near impossible task to come up with a "cost-of-living index," but the BLS does as good a job as anyone can. When Katherine Abraham was the head of the BLS (during the Clinton years) it was a first-class outfit. The BLS produced its own critiques of the Boskin report that were generally very good, noting for instance the likely overstatement of quality improvements. Things might change somewhat with changes at the top of the BLS made (to me made) by the Bush leaguers. The main problem is that few (even economists) really understand what the published inflation rates take (and to not take) into account. For instance, deflating nominal wages by the CPI does NOT lead to a measure of the standard of living of workers. Eric
