Episode 3. Consumer Price Index (Inflation)

Measuring inflation is more complicated than simply tracking how the price of a fixed basket of goods changes over time, because consumers change what they buy, new products emerge, product quality improves, and some prices are unusually volatile. Economists continually refine the Consumer Price Index with better data and quality adjustments while using multiple measures, including headline and core CPI, to build a more accurate picture of changes in the cost of living.

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Download all of Episode 3 Curricular materials as a ZIP file. Includes: Videos with and without captions, research brief, lesson plan with discussion and extension questions, summary podcast, and references.

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Video

Videos show real-world case studies of applied economics research. These short and engaging videos, running approximately 5 minutes, are designed to be shown in class.

Research Brief

The research brief provides more information on scholars featured in the video and conducting related research. Summarizing the key economics concept of the episode and providing background on the experts, these research briefs are intended to be used as a student handout with the video.

Discussion and Extension Questions

The lesson plan provides brief background information on the topic to help instructors prepare before showing the video and connect it to their principles course. The activities included are scalable to classes of any size, and include a variety of discussion prompts, multiple choice and true/false questions, a supporting graph, and ideas to extend the lesson.

Episode in a Graph

Building off of the episode case study, our graph illustrates the key microeconomics lesson of market structure and competition.

Podcast

The podcast offers a way to extend the lesson. Instructors may give students an assignment to the podcast summary and reflect: What do you note here that you did not when watching the video?

References

This list of references includes the work of experts featured in our videos and related studies cited throughout the episode and in the curriculum materials. Together, they provide the empirical foundation for the episode, drawing on both the latest academic research and the contributions of leading scholars in the field.