Campus Life

LAVERDE’S PRICE INDEX Introducing the LPI

Think the price changed on one of your favorite items at LaVerde’s? Think the price changed on several items? Wondering how the prices at LaVerde’s are changing over time and if these price changes are fair?

The Tech is compiling a metric we call the LaVerde’s Price Index (LPI). We add together the prices of 23 specific, diverse products that we feel are typical purchases for members of the MIT community, and we plot how that total price changes monthly. Each month, we will also compare the LPI to the Consumer Price Index (Northeast urban area) as a measure of fairness.

The CPI has been scaled so that the starting point in July is the same as the cumulative price of the 23 select items from LaVerde’s. The CPI for September has not been released yet.



1 Comment
1
Manas about 13 years ago

It would only be fair to compare the price of the equivalent items to star market (and track that once every 6 months or so). Its important to think in terms of choice and opportunity costs.