1.
Choose a focus. Inflation is measured by creating a hypothetical basket of goods and tracking its price over time. The CPI is a broad measure of economy wide inflation. There are specific measures of inflation for particular places, types of products and custom needs. Use the Home Office Price Index, HOPI for short, to practice making your own.
2
Decide what items belong in a basket with the focus you designated. The HOPI includes paper, staples and blue pens.
3
Determine the weighting of each item in the basket. For the sample basket, try 5 pads of paper, 2 boxes of staples and a box of 25 blue pens.
4
Compile a list of current prices. Current prices for the HOPI are, $2 per pad of paper, $4 for each box of staples and $15 for the box of pens.
5
Track the prices of these items over time. The HOPI is most vulnerable to inflation in pen prices.
6
Calculate the rate of inflation. The sample basket originally included $33 worth of goods. Since it is the base year, $33 equals 100. If cost of the same basket increases to $44, the index will rise to 133. Thankfully, inflation doesn't usually get up to 33 percent.
7
Go back and collect historical data for your basket if you want to get an idea of any trends in prices. If last year paper cost $1.50, staples cost $4 and pens cost $12.50, the sample index for last year is 88