Data Analysis: Investigating How Prices Have Changed in Your

Lifetime (20 points)

Using Data: learn how to access the Federal Reserve's macroeconomic databases (FRED), visualize the data, and isolate empirical patterns in the data.

1. Before you begin to look at the data, guesstimate (i.e. guess!) the change in the cost of living since your birth, i.e. how much inflation has there been since your birthdate. There's no

right/wrong answer here (and no points at stake!) Don't worry if you're way off the numerical answer you calculate later.

Write down your birthdate (month/date/year format): / / /

Write down your estimate ------------ percent change since my birthdate.

2. (6 points) Use FRED website to calculate inflation since your birthdate. Here are some

instructions.

i. Go online and navigate to the FRED website (https://fred.stlouisfed.org/).

ii. Locate the data set "Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: All Items," choose

the first series, "Monthly, Seasonally Adjusted." This data series tracks the average

monthly change in the price for goods and services paid by urban consumers between

any two time periods. Using seasonally adjusted data removes the dips and bumps that

occur during a typical calendar year (e.g. around holidy shopping periods).

You can locate the data set by typing "consumer price index" into the search bar. You

can also find this series by searching for its mnemonic code, CPIAUCSL.