Archive Report
Archive Report
Learning to Cut Corners
Inflation-Caused Changes in Daily Living
It comes as little surprise to learn that four-fifths of the persons questioned in a recent Gallup Poll said the high cost of living was the most important problem they faced. Last year's 13.3 percent rise in the Consumer Price Index (CPI), the largest since 1947, was followed by an even faster climb during the first three months of 1980. Although inflation has since abated somewhat, economists predict that by the end of the year the increase will be around 12 percent.1 What is surprising is that most Americans — 60 percent in a University of Michigan Survey Research Center poll — seem to have found ways to cope with inflation.2 One reason is that incomes have ...