Betsey Stevenson, Columnist

Inflation Is Not on Anyone’s Holiday Gift List

Focusing on individual prices can fuel arguments about the state of the economy, but not every price change is a sign of inflation.

December 12, 2023 at 11:00 AM UTC

Updated on

December 12, 2023 at 6:14 PM UTC

By Betsey Stevenson

Betsey Stevenson is a professor of public policy and economics at the University of Michigan. She was on the president’s Council of Economic Advisers and was chief economist at the US Department of Labor.

A little more expensive this year.
Photographer: Scott Olson/Getty Images North America

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‘Tis the season for headlines about the prices of some very specific items, such as a 16-pound turkey (down from last year) or a Christmas tree (up). None of these prices, however, is a good barometer of the overall cost of living.

Even when prices rise on average more rapidly than usual, as they did in 2022, some prices rise more than others. And even in that high inflationary year, the prices of some things — such as smart phones and beef — plummeted.