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Code and data for The Economist's Big Mac index

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Re: Code and data for The Economist's Big Mac index

#4

Post by hnews_account_1 »

panarky wrote: post #2

This is the way data journalism should be done, kudos! > exchange rates are from Thomson Reuters Sorry to say I'm cynical enough to be surprised that they're allowed to republish this data.

Daily currency and stock data is practically free in most cases. Anyway, this is historical data and not real time. I don't think Reuters gives a fuck beyond your payment for downloading the data in the first place.

Now if you piped the real time API to somewhere else for a broadcast / simple multicast, Reuters may take issue with it.

Re: Code and data for The Economist's Big Mac index

#5

Post by wyxuan »

hnews_account_1 wrote: post #4
panarky wrote: post #2

This is the way data journalism should be done, kudos! > exchange rates are from Thomson Reuters Sorry to say I'm cynical enough to be surprised that they're allowed to republish this data.

Daily currency and stock data is practically free in most cases. Anyway, this is historical data and not real time. I don't think Reuters gives a fuck beyond your payment for downloading the data in the first place. Now if you piped the real time API to somewhere else for a broadcast / simple multicast, Reuters may take issue with it.

Yeah almost every brokerage provides access to historical exchange rates

Re: Code and data for The Economist's Big Mac index

#9

Post by teruakohatu »

dontdoitpls wrote: post #8

Consumer pricing is the last to get hit with inflation. Why do people use CPI instead of labor, housing, or stock prices to gauge inflation? On a similar note, why would anyone trust the federal reserve's numbers given how the federal reserve has lied in the past?

It is easy to calculate. A gallon of milk today is essentially the same as a gallon of milk 100 years ago. Same with gasoline and cans of beans.

Re: Code and data for The Economist's Big Mac index

#10

Post by hnews_account_1 »

dontdoitpls wrote: post #8

Consumer pricing is the last to get hit with inflation. Why do people use CPI instead of labor, housing, or stock prices to gauge inflation? On a similar note, why would anyone trust the federal reserve's numbers given how the federal reserve has lied in the past?

People actually in the field don't trust the CPI number as gospel. We all know its shortcomings. However, the CPI print does move the market, so while it is good to keep track of the real inflation number by our own methodologies (which generally involves a different weighing scheme since the real CPI already accounts for most consumer products), you hardly trade on it.

For example, people have been shouting that inflation has already screamed past the Federal Reserve's target (of 2%) if the weight to medicare costs was increased to reflect the true spending of an average consumer(i.e. medicare is a bigger % of expenses of the avg consumer than reflected by the CPI weight). However, the fed refutes that argument and says that its current measure isn't perfect but neither is the solution proposed.

Currently they are looking at something called the Stock Watson model to see if it provides a better gauge. So by no means is it a settled science.

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