🚀 go-pugleaf

In article 190800RHG@psuvm.psu.edu, <RHG@psuvm.psu.edu> () writes:
> Perhaps this isn't the right discussion group, but it's the closest
> I can find to ask a question about inflation statistics.
> 
> In a book I'm writing about World War II, I refer to a number of
> governmental purchases--but the dollar figures don't mean much
> unless they are converted to 1992 dollars.  (If an item cost $1,000
> in 1945, how much would it cost today?)  I'm sure there are charts
> that show that kind of thing, but I can't find any in the Penn State
> library.

The question needs to be made more precise.  There are many measures of
inflation.  If, for example, you take as a definition of inflation what the
government calls CPI-U and look at the broadest measure, then the value of
$1,000 in 1945 would be worth about $7,750 in 1992 dollars.  (Some of my early data
are incomplete; so this may be a little bit off)

Data back to 1961 are readily available in Business Statistics.  Before that you
may have to scrounge.