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PRICES & SPENDING   •  Sep 2021  •  Volume 10 / Number 13

Measuring consumer price change during economic downturns: a review of assumptions about consumer spending

Measuring consumer price change during economic downturns: a review of assumptions about consumer spending

During economic downturns, how do these measures help in analyzing price change, and what can we assume about consumption? This Beyond the Numbers article explores the final C-CPI-U during the Great Recession and the recession that occurred as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, the article evaluates consumer spending assumptions of the CPI-U and preliminary C-CPI-U during these recessionary periods to highlight challenges of lagged consumer spending data.

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