Andrew Gray wrote:
On 18/10/05, James R. Johnson modean52@comcast.net wrote:
Not really related to the Placeopedia, but is there some kind of function we can write wherein the dollar amount adjusts based on inflation? Something that cost $50 in 1790 would cost several times that amount today, but a different amount from its cost 10 years from now. Is there some auto-function we could do that would display the original cost, and present cost, such as:
Original Cost: $50 USD Present Value of Original Cost: $1500 USD
The problem is that this is an art more than a science. The "1865" conversion rate would work okay for seeing how much a cup of coffee cost then - but it'd give an impressively misleading equivalent value for the Alaska Purchase.
There are certainly any number of government publications (and presumably websites) from around the world that give a wide range of economic indexes for inflation, employment, population, interest, GDP, etc. The application of these national indexes to specific locations would produce totally unreliable results. If no ships were bringing coffee to Alaska in 1865 it's value there may have been considerably higher than elsewhere, and those inhabitants may have needed to be satisfied with a bitter blend of chicory.
Ec