Can blockchain solutions disrupt US inflation forecasting?
New blockchain-based apps like Truflation could be a “healthy development,” given that gauging inflation is more art than science. So much of the world’s economic steam depends on interest rates, which in turn are tied to inflation, i.e., the rate at which producer and consumer prices are rising. But measuring inflation isn’t easy. It is as much art as it is science. The world’s number one inflation index, arguably, is the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Consumer Price Index (CPI), which has been around for over 100 years. Not all economists and business leaders are happy with the CPI, however. Its methodology sometimes seems antiquated, and it publishes only once a month. It also relies on a workforce of 477 people who canvas supermarkets, department stores, gas stations and hospitals, often simply jotting down retail prices — not exactly 21st century. “Basically, they go to stores — whether it’s electronically or in person — and write down prices,” Nationwide insuran...