ABSTRACT
Government decisions, national and international, negotiations with producers over prices and with unions over wages, depend increasingly on such measures. Typically an index number indicates the current position of prices or quantities of a list of commodities relative to a specified base point. Until 1987, the index used 11 major groups: food, alcoholic drink, tobacco, housing, fuel and light, durable household goods, clothing and footwear, transport and vehicles, miscellaneous goods, services, and meals consumed outside the home. At the start of 1987, a new 14-group system was introduced. Alcoholic drink, tobacco, housing, fuel and light, and clothing and footwear are as before, but the remaining groups have been restructured as food, catering, household goods, household services, personal items, motoring expenditure, and fares, leisure goods, and leisure services. The index incorporates 880 items showing the difference between output of products and input of materials, integrated by the Laspeyres base-weighted method.
