At 11:03 PM 3/29/98 -0500, R. Lee Hawkins <lhawkins@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
[snip]
>Ok, this is enough to convince me that I don't have time to correct
>things to constant dollars. I'll compile the list from Cambridge ads,
>and if someone wants to "constant dollar" it, they can do so, and I will
>post that list in addition to the one I do.
Well, I found some good info. Daily exchange rates for the Yen/US$ from 1971
to present-day, as well as a CPI/RPI deflation index from the same period of
time, both issued by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. These should be
accurate enough for most purposes. However, a caveat: the Fed did *not* choose
a single base year for their deflation index, instead "jamming out" and
choosing the period of 1982-84 as a base of 100. Thus, 1984 is actually
slightly *higher* than 100.0!
Here's the numbers:
Yen/US$
Year Index (Avg.)
==== ===== =======
1971 40.5 318.47
1972 41.8 292.63
1973 44.4 259.87
1974 49.3 279.55
1975 53.8 284.28
1976 56.9 285.14
1977 60.6 258.29
1978 65.2 202.29
1979 72.6 209.79
1980 82.4 217.12
1981 90.9 212.17
1982 96.5 239.52
1983 99.6 229.33
1984 103.9 227.45
1985 107.6 228.42
1986 109.6 161.90
1987 113.6 139.62
1988 118.3 123.26
1989 124.0 133.29
1990 130.7 139.44
1991 136.2 129.43
1992 140.3 122.43
1993 144.5 107.25
1994 148.2 98.64
1995 152.4 90.71
1996 156.9 104.63
1997 160.5 116.42
1998 n/a 121.20
Yearly numbers for the Yen/US$ exchange rate are arithmetical averages of the
available dailies for the period from 1971 through 1998. Missing information
was treated as truly missing, not "zeroed" and therefore not included in the
averaging calculations. 1998 is current through to March 20 (approx.).
CPI/RPI Index for 1998 does not yet exist in a form I could readily find on the
Web (I'll keep trying).
To use the CPI/RPI Index to inflate or deflate a price, locate the year in
which you find a price (the "source" year), and then the index number in the
same year. Then locate the index number in your "target" year (usually the
year you're living in [i.e., 1998], but any other year works just as well).
Then use the following formula:
Target year price = source year price x (target index/source index)
Thus, ALL OTHER THINGS BEING EQUAL, if a new OM-1n cost $400.00 U.S. in 1984,
and it was still "new" in 1997, you could expect to pay:
400.00 x (160.5/103.9) = $617.90 (approx.)
Figuring out what the exchange rate did to prices requires assumptions about
base wholesale pricing in Japan during the period. Otherwise, you're just
shooting in the dark.
Happy calculating, folks.
Garth Wood
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