© statistisches bundesamt, devision prices, irmtraud beuerlein communicating the german cpi...

© Statistisches Bundesamt, Devision Prices, Irmtraud Beuerlein

Communicating the German CPI

DESTATIS „Price Kaleidoscope“

prepared for the

Joint UNECE/ILO Meeting on Consumer Price Indices

10-12 May 2010, Palais des Nations, Geneva

Folie 2© Statistisches Bundesamt, Devision Prices, Irmtraud Beuerlein

General requirements

CPIs have a broad range of users and are in the focus of public interest

Permanent challenge to explain the making of the index numbers to users with completely different levels of knowledge

Need for user oriented publications and comprehensive meta data access.


New challenges

Public debates in recent years indicate a gap between perceived price increases and the official inflation rate

Introduction of Euro cash as a turning point VAT increase in January 2007 Increasing food prices Volatility of petrol prices

Need for actions to defend the credibility of CPI New communication strategy


Main messages to the public

The CPI is a mean value of many disparate price movements

The overall CPI is supplemented by the monthly publication of more than 600 CPI sub-indices

The “basket of goods” is comprehensive, services are included

Be aware of the importance of the weights for the index calculation


New opportunities

The Internet offers new ways to address the public

DESTATIS developed a series of new on-line communication tools in order to explain the making of the CPI in an intuitive and playful way

New web based applications aim at improving the image of official statistics in the broad public


New interactive communication tools


Personal Inflation Calculator

Introduced in 2005 as a didactical instrument

Focus on: Influence of weighting Impact of

consumption habits

http://www.destatis.de/jetspeed/portal/cms/Sites/destatis/Internet/EN/Graphics/SVG/IndexrechnerSVG,templateId=renderSVG.psml


Price Monitor

Introduced in July 2006 to accompany the VAT increase in Germany in January 2007

Focus on: Detailed breakdown Frequently bought

goods Price fluctuations

http://www.destatis.de/jetspeed/portal/cms/Sites/destatis/Internet/EN/Navigation/Statistics/TimeSeries/EconomicIndicators/Pricemonitor/Overview__nk,templateId=renderPrint.psml__nnn=true


“Most striking price changes”

Introduced in 2008 as a new option: embedding a chart into the own website

Focus on: Detailed breakdown Price fluctuations

http://www.destatis.de/jetspeed/portal/cms/Sites/destatis/Internet/EN/Graphics/Prices/Photography/PriceTrends,templateId=renderLarge.psml

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Price Kaleidoscope

Introduced in September 2009 as an eye catcher in addition to the existing tools

Based on the idea and with support of Michael BALZER, University of Konstanz, Germany

Focus on: Variability of weights and

price trends between product groups

Complexity of CPI

http://www.destatis.de/jetspeed/portal/cms/Sites/destatis/Internet/EN/Graphics/SVG/PriceKaleidoscope,templateId=renderSVG.psml

Zero percent inflation – but many prices moving

Press release No. 335 / 2009-09-09

„The inflation rate in August 2009 was 0.0 percent – the consumer price index for Germany did not change on the same month a year earlier. Nevertheless, prices of many goods and services in August 2009 were markedly higher or lower than a year earlier. The „zero“ results from the fact that price increases and price decreases offset each other because the inflation rate is calculated as a weighted average of all changes in consumer prices.“

Folie 11


Feedback on the new communication tools

Number of hits on the German website

0

1.000

2.000

3.000

4.000

5.000

6.000

7.000

8.000

9.000

Jan09

Feb09

Mar-09

Apr09

May09

Jun09

Jul09

Aug09

Sep09

Oct09

Nov09

Dec09

Jan10

Feb10

Mar10

Price monitor

Price-Kaleidoskope

Personal InflationCalculator

TOP 10

"Embed this chartinto my website"

Folie 12


Feedback on the new communication tools

Number of hits on the English website

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1600

Jan09

Feb09

Mar-09

Apr09

May09

Jun09

Jul09

Aug09

Sep09

Oct09

Nov09

Dec09

Jan10

Feb10

Mar10

Price monitor

Price-Kaleidoskope

Top 10 (full view)

"Embed this chartinto my website"

Personal inflationcalculator

© statistisches bundesamt, devision prices, irmtraud beuerlein communicating the german cpi...

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