Household consumption patterns and the consumer price index, England, 1260–1869
该研究基于1260-1869年英国家庭支出变化，构建了链式拉斯佩雷斯价格指数，验证了现有固定篮子价格指数在工业化前的准确性，并揭示了工业化时期家庭支出转向进口杂货和制成品带来的新动态。
Abstract Existing long‐run consumer price indices for England rely on a fixed consumption basket. Here we construct a methodologically improved, chained‐Laspeyres price index for ordinary households based on their changing expenditure patterns between 1260 and 1869. Rather than offering a revisionist perspective on long‐run costs, it confirms the broad accuracy of existing indices for the pre‐industrial period. The dominant dependence of the key items of expenditure on agricultural, particularly arable, prices explains this finding. The industrial period introduced a new dynamic. The shift in household expenditure towards imported groceries and manufactured goods allowed for more substitution in response to relative price and income changes. Adding the current series to those chained‐Laspeyres indices available for later periods provides a CPI for ordinary households in England over nearly eight centuries; from 1260 to the present day.