Good news for Santa

摘要

Tis the season to worry about the cost of living. Energy bills are rising, along with the cost of educating the students returning to loaf on the sofa. Wages are not keeping up. Still, there are reasons to be cheery. Our Yuletide price index based on official data shows that, overall, Christmas has become cheaper. Feeding hungry relatives is costly. Our Christmas dinner includes a 5kg (11lb) turkey, 200g of sprouts, 200g of carrots and a 500g pudding. We added two bottles of wine and a bottle of Champagne. The prices of these items have outstripped wage growth (see chart1). But presents, which account for 70% of Christmas spending, are much cheaper, making the whole thing more affordable. A basket of gifts has increased in price by just 13% since 1987. Household incomes have risen by over 60% in that period. Toys are better, too. In 1992 Nintendo's snes game console sold for £150 (£273 in today's prices). Today the much faster Wii u retails at £218.