Inflation Indicators: Beyond the Headline Number
What the sessions cover
Course Structure
Part 1 — Measurement Basics
- How price surveys are conducted and compiled
- The difference between CPI and PCE methodologies
- Core inflation: what gets stripped out and why
Part 2 — Upstream Price Pressures
- Producer Price Index and its relationship to consumer prices
- Import price indices and supply chain effects
- Wage growth as an inflation driver
Part 3 — Practical Application
- Reading a CPI release from Statistics Canada
- Comparing inflation across countries using standardized data
- Case study: the 2021-2023 inflation cycle in Canada
Assessment format
One written analysis per part, submitted asynchronously. Instructor feedback provided within five business days. No timed exams.
Understanding economic indicators — what this program addresses
Published 12/2025. Reading takes approximately 7 min read.
Inflation is one of the most reported and least understood economic concepts. The headline CPI figure gets most of the attention, but it is one version of a much more complicated picture. This program works through the different ways inflation is measured and why the choice of measure matters.
Multiple measures, different stories
The Consumer Price Index and the Personal Consumption Expenditures index use different baskets of goods and different weighting methods. Central banks often prefer one over the other — and understanding why gives you real insight into how monetary policy decisions get made.
You will also look at producer prices, import prices, and wage inflation, and how these upstream pressures eventually show up — or do not show up — in consumer prices.
When the data and lived experience diverge
Many people feel that official inflation figures do not match what they experience at the grocery store or when paying rent. There are structural reasons for this gap, and examining them honestly is part of what this program covers.
Inflation measurement is a series of deliberate choices about what to include, how to weight it, and how to handle quality changes over time.
Sessions include analysis of recent inflation cycles in Canada, the US, and the UK, using actual published data rather than simplified textbook examples.