The Distributional Impact of Inflation: 2003-2014. ESRI Research Notes 2015/3/1

Colgan, Brian and Callan, Tim (2015) The Distributional Impact of Inflation: 2003-2014. ESRI Research Notes 2015/3/1. UNSPECIFIED.

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Abstract

Research has shown that, depending on the period under consideration, high and low income groups can experience different rates of inflation (Crawford and Smith 2002). Over the course of the Great Recession, there is growing evidence from the UK (Levell and Oldfield, 2011; Adams et al., 2014; Flowers and Wales, 2014) that low-income households have experienced higher rates of inflation than high-income households. Have similar differentials emerged during the Irish experience of the Great Recession? This is the central question addressed by this note, which examines the distributional impact of inflation over the years 2003 to 2014. We use detailed micro-data from the Household Budget Survey (HBS) and Consumer Price Indices (CPIs) produced by the CSO, to examine the distributional impact of inflation over the years 2003-2014. We find somewhat different effects depending on whether the focus is on the full period, the ‘boom’ years or the ‘austerity’ years.

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