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Enhanced Misery Index

Tuesday, June 10, 2008 | 11:53 AM

in Data Analysis | Employment | Inflation

Yesterday, we asked what the Misery Index would look like if the CPI and Unemployment were reported honestly.

A colleague at Credit-Suisse suggested adding in the annual change in house prices to the misery index. Suddenly, we can see that the consumer is in as much pain as in the early nineties and the early eighties.

Enhanced Misery Index
(added the annual change in house prices)

If house prices, Unemployment and CPI carry on as expected, this index will be at all time high within a year.

By way of comparison, the old format misery index is below:

Traditional Misery Index

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Comments

The "Enhanced Misery" made me chuckle. Does that mean more or less miserable? Either way it sounds good and will likely be adopted by the administration, along the "Strong Dollar Policy".

Posted by: mhm | Jun 10, 2008 12:09:15 PM

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