[Afronaut]

What goods are falling in price?

[tucents]

What goods are falling in price? Prices on consumer items are cut as retailers attempt to clear out inventory to make room for new models or products. In electronics, it is common for last year's technology to move down in price as improved technology becomes available. The price of 17" CRT computer monitors has dropped noticeably as flat panel displays have become available. A hand-held calculator in the '70s was several hundred dollars; today the equivalent calculator is about five dollars. More generally, using the real per capita income as a measure of buying power (which has grown steadily over many years), the fraction of income that the average person would spend on a fixed basket of goods has decreased steadily over time.