Consumer price index, 2004

Monthly Labor Review

Volumn 128, Issue 4, 2005, Pages 3-10

  Wilson, Todd ^a  

^a BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 28244440249     PISSN: 00981818     EISSN: 00981818     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Review

References (34)

1. Annual percent changes are calculated from December to December, unless otherwise stated.
2. Economists often exclude food and energy price movements when evaluating the underlying level of inflation. Food and energy price movements tend to be relatively volatile in the short-to-intermediate terms, making only transitory impacts on the All items CPI. Large rises in these prices are often followed by large decreases, and vice versa. Volatility in food and energy price movements, such as that caused by unusual weather conditions, is generally self-correcting. Inclement weather often leads to temporary food shortages and temporarily increased demand for household fuels. Sustained shifts in food and energy prices, of course, will affect overall inflation.
3. Testimony of Chairman Alan Greenspan: Federal Reserve Board's Semiannual Monetary Policy Report to the Congress, Before the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, U.S. Senate (Federal Reserve Board of Governors, July 20, 2004).
4. Testimony of Chairman Alan Greenspan: Federal Reserve Board's Semiannual Monetary Policy Report to the Congress, Before the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, U.S. Senate (Federal Reserve Board of Governors, February 16, 2005).
5. Sharply rising energy costs affect consumers not only directly, through rising household fuel bills and motor fuel charges, but also indirectly by raising businesses' input costs and eventually consumer prices charged by those businesses for goods and services. Increases in energy costs affect businesses in the same way increases in taxes affect them. They raise the cost of doing business. The higher prices charged to consumers in order to recoup higher energy-related input costs are the "indirect effects" of an increase in energy prices. Commonly, businesses pass some or all of these higher input costs through to consumers with a lag of up to several months. The extent to which businesses pass along these higher costs depends on how competitive the marketplace is for the goods or services they sell.
6. Short-Term Energy Outlook, December 2004 and January 2005 (Energy Information Administration, U.S. Department of Energy, December 6, 2004, and January 11, 2005, respectively).
7. OPEC(Energy Information Administration, U.S. Department of Energy, January 11, 2005). OPEC members include Algeria, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela.
8. OPEC Revenues Fact Sheet (Energy Information Administration, U.S. Department of Energy, January 2005).
9. Winter Fuels Outlook: 2004-2005 (Energy Information Administration, U.S. Department of Energy, October 2004).
10. Short-Term Energy Outlook, December 2004 and January 2005 (Energy Information Administration, U.S. Department of Energy, December 6, 2004, and January 11, 2005, respectively).
11. World crude oil prices are officially called "Refiner Acquisition Cost of Crude Oil, Composite (of both Domestic and Imported oil)," published in Petroleum Marketing Monthly (Energy Information Administration, U.S. Department of Energy, January 31, 2005).
12. Monthly Energy Review, February 2005 (Energy Information Administration, U.S. Department of Energy, February 24, 2005).
13. Food data regarding levels of production, imports, exports, and cold storage reflect weight in pounds, not value in dollars.
14. Livestock, Dairy and Poultry Outlook (U.S. Department of Agriculture, January 25, 2005).
15. Livestock, Dairy and Poultry Outlook(U.S. Department of Agriculture, November 23, 2004).
16. Livestock, Dairy and Poultry Outlook(U.S. Department of Agriculture, January 25, 2005).
17. Livestock, Dairy and Poultry Outlook (U.S. Department of Agriculture, December 28, 2004).
18. Livestock, Dairy and Poultry Outlook(U.S. Department of Agriculture, January 25, 2005).
19. Livestock, Dairy and Poultry Outlook (U.S. Department of Agriculture, March 23, 2004).
20. Livestock, Dairy and Poultry Outlook (U.S. Department of Agriculture, January 25, 2005).
21. Livestock, Dairy and Poultry Outlook (U.S. Department of Agriculture, December 28, 2004).
22. Sales volume and lease volume data are from The 2005 Used Car Market Report, Tenth Anniversary Edition, 2004 Year in Review (Manheim, January 29, 2005).
23. Automotive News (Crain Communications, Inc., January 10, 2005).
24. The Beige Book Summary (Federal Reserve Board of Governors, September 8, 2004).
25. The Beige Book Summary (Federal Reserve Board of Governors, March 3, 2004 and April 21, 2004).
26. Census Bureau Reports on Residential Vacancies and Homeownership (U.S. Department of Commerce, Census Bureau, January 27, 2005).
27. New Privately Owned Housing Units Completed, Annual Data (U.S. Department of Commerce, Census Bureau, January 19, 2005).
28. Census Bureau Reports on Residential Vacancies and Homeownership (U.S. Department of Commerce, Census Bureau, January 27, 2005).
29. Gross Domestic Product: Fourth Quarter 2004, Advance (U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, January 28, 2005).
30. Mortgage Interest Rate, 30-Year Conventional Mortgages, Fixed-Rate (Federal Home Mortgage Corporation, February 07, 2005).
31. Trends in College Pricing, 2004 (The College Board, 2005).
32. Trends in College Pricing, 2004, 2005, Ibid.
33. Some jurisdictions allow multiple cable companies to compete within their area. Usually, competition provides both better service and lower rates than are found with monopolies. However, in locations where a cable company is the sole cable provider, the affected jurisdictions often work with the carrier to maintain satisfactory service and to minimize fee increases.
34. Video on demand allows digital cable subscribers, at no extra cost, to select at any time after they are broadcast up to as long as a week later, or else at their regularly scheduled times, various programming from a selection of titles stored on a remote server. Home networking is a service provided by cable companies that connects, using a cable modem and router, a given household's computers and gaming consoles, creating a home network in which files, printers, and an Internet connection can be shared. Telephony is a technology that uses a toll-free Internet connection to transmit voice, fax, and video information.