Consumer prices are rising at their fastest clip in decades, but a handful of products have gotten less expensive.
To be sure, such purchases don't offset the sharply higher prices that Americans are paying for groceries, gasoline, rent and other staples. But they offer insight into the quirks of an economy in which rising demand from consumers, exacerbated by a strangled supply chain, is pushing up prices for everything from meat to bicycles.
Second, the price tag of some tech products has stayed level even as the devices saw gains in processing power, giving consumers more features. That added product value is something the Labor Department takes into account when tracking inflation through its Consumer Price Index.In other words, consumers are getting more for their money, which for economists is equivalent to a decline in price.Avid readers will be pleased to learn that books are one item bucking inflationary pressures.
A shift to online books, which typically are cheaper than printed books, as well as some stores being closed during the pandemic, could have caused the dip in book prices, agreed Steve Reed, an economist with the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The long-term trend for book prices is flat, he added. But book prices are likely to jump in 2022 as publishers bring out new titles and reprint older books, which allows them to issue copies with higher prices on the covers, McLean said. She's not sure how much book prices will increase, but noted that shipping costs have become"extreme" and that some publishers are struggling to find paper.
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