Research Guides
Government Sources by Subject: Inflation
Starting Points
- Databases, Tables & Calculators by Subject, Bureau of Labor StatisticsClick on "Inflation and Prices" for search options, tables and text files. Data is on consumer, producer and international prices.
Inflation occurs when the prices of goods and services increase over time. Inflation cannot be measured by an increase in the cost of one product or service, or even several products or services. Rather, inflation is a general increase in the overall price level of the goods and services in the economy. [Federal Reserve Board]
- Subject Area Categories, Inflation & Prices, Bureau of Labor StatisticsConsumer Price Indexes (CPI), Producer Price Indexes, Import/Export Price Indexes and the Consumer Expenditure Survey.
- U.S. Economic Accounts, Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Department of CommerceNational, international and regional data from multiple sources; also data by industry, and integrated accounts data. Use the Gross Domestic Product figures for historical research. GDP measures the economy on a much broader basis than does the CPI (Consumer Price Index).
- Regional Economic Data Toolkit This link opens in a new window
This link opens in a new window
Four unique US datasets created by the Council for Community and Economic Research (C2ER), including data on the Cost of Living Index (COLI).
Print Sources
- The Value of a Dollar: Prices and Incomes in the United States, 1860-2009, Scott DerksTwo introductory tables offer "The Value of a Dollar, 1860-2009," one by a composite commodity price index and the second by CPI. (1860, the base year,=$1.00). Table 2 refers to an article by John J. McCusker: How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States", Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, 101, part 2 (1992)
World Inflation Rates
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