Discussion on Price and Purchase Indexes Dissertation

Discussion on Price and Purchase Indexes - Dissertation Example There is a continuous inflation as years increase from the base of 1999, the strongest inflations being found in petroleum at 44%, vegetables at 25%, housing at 11% and meat products at 10%. Alcohol and tobacco prices have also increased by about 20% since 1999. This shows that prices on necessities such as food and housing have a dramatic increase over previous years. The average increases per year in comparison to 1999 are: There was an increase in vegetable sales in 2001, but as prices skyrocketed by 2002, sales fell away-being the only one to decrease in 2002. There are several inferences that can be made from this statement, the first being that people are not buying vegetables because of the cost, and the second being that since all other purchase categories increased, we can assume that family size also increased-this leaves a hole in healthy eating habits of our residents. Meat purchases increased by 32%, tobacco and petroleum by 60%. Probably the most disturbing inference to be made from this table and one that points to a serious problem for the quality of life in Chignor is that alcohol purchases have increased by 100%. Average purchasing increases show that since 1999, purchases increased dramatically in 2002. If we remove alcohol and tobacco as being unnecessary to a healthy lifestyle, the increase in 2002 is 23.25% compared to 1999, which is far more dramatic than previous years. This shows that meat and petroleum purchases have increased, which leads to the possibility that there are more people in the Chignor area, and raises a consideration that vegetable sales have actually decreased from 2001-2002, very possibly because TECCO employees can simply not afford to buy vegetables. Year Increase % 2000 1.75 2001 9.9 2002 42.08 Income Index Last, we need to examine the incomes of residents. In 2000-2001, there is a 6 percent increase in TECCO employees incomes from 1999, but there was not an increase from 2000 to 2001 (no pay raises). Furthermore,