Are Inflation Rates Different for the Elderly?

This paper presents new evidence on cost-of-living indices and annual inflation rates for the elderly population as well as the general population. It employs a now fairly widely accepted adjustment for the inappropriate treatment of housing in the Consumer Price Index. We disaggregate by five-year age cohorts for the elderly, and analyze various features of the differences in the inflation faced by the elderly and the general population, as well as within the elderly group itself. We conclude that, conditional on a housing adjustment, the inflation experience of the elderly from 1961-1981 was quite similar to the general population, both cumulatively and year-by-year.