Your back-to-school cart is running hotter than headline inflation, and some items are way hotter. Here's a complete item-by-item breakdown that highlights which items actually got cheaper.
I was actually really surprised by that, too. I have an article in the works for next week that may indicate why things are worse. Last year's price may have been really high because of the initial introduction of tariffs while this year we're seeing the untariffed version?
For reference (N of 1 here, so take it for what it's worth), I am an undergrad now and was 20 years ago, too, both in STEM fields. The prices of textbooks and calculators haven't to my notice gone up as quickly as inflation. I suspect it's because of the proliferation of digital versions and laptop/smartphone apps, respectively, as (albeit imperfect) substitutes shifting the demand curve down/left and thus lowering prices.
Please explain why the CPI chart shows college textbooks, plain as day, going up by 10.2%, whereas the text in the section "Some Things Didn't Move..." states: "college textbooks are down a slim 0.7%." Inquiring minds want to know...
It looks like the email version shows last year's data and the web version has this year's data. I'm not sure why last year's version made it to your inbox and this year's version made it to the web.
Thank you! That makes sense -- actually quite useful to have the trend data. Colleges pushed back pretty hard on textbook cost over the last year, but the biggest pushback in my world of Community Colleges is high schools refusing to allow the CCs that teach their Dual Credit students to use commercial textbooks -- only Open Stax or other no- or very low-cost texts, and the expansion to high school Dual Credit is a big area of growth for CCs.
I should add that our library does a big OER push each year and has sent emails to students telling them that they should demand that their faculty switch over to OER. You can imagine how that went over!
I'm glad you said something because I would have NEVER noticed it. For obvious reasons, I don't read the email versions of the articles once I hit publish.
Under the publish and embed section, you can publish the visualization to get a hyperlink to your visualization. I just copy and paste that into Substack, and it generates the interactive charts.
Unfortunately, the maps are hit or miss on whether Substack will turn them into the interactive version.
If you make updates to the chart, it doesn't automatically update the post even if you republish on datawrapper since it has a form of version control on the link.
> the individual items filling a kid’s lunchbox: animal crackers are up 15.7%, sliced ham and turkey are each up at least 12%, and applesauce packets are up 6.9%
Pffffffft my kids would eat nothing but beef jerky and drink nothing but grain alcohol and rainwater. Good thing I'm saving 15% year-over-year (and probably a prison term) by not having kids at all!
If you told me my textbooks and calculators were cheaper i wouldn't believe you.
I was actually really surprised by that, too. I have an article in the works for next week that may indicate why things are worse. Last year's price may have been really high because of the initial introduction of tariffs while this year we're seeing the untariffed version?
Interesting. I look forward to the article. Makes me think i better go buy some calculators and textbooks while i can. I am pursuing my cpa next year
For reference (N of 1 here, so take it for what it's worth), I am an undergrad now and was 20 years ago, too, both in STEM fields. The prices of textbooks and calculators haven't to my notice gone up as quickly as inflation. I suspect it's because of the proliferation of digital versions and laptop/smartphone apps, respectively, as (albeit imperfect) substitutes shifting the demand curve down/left and thus lowering prices.
God bless the Desmos Demons
Please explain why the CPI chart shows college textbooks, plain as day, going up by 10.2%, whereas the text in the section "Some Things Didn't Move..." states: "college textbooks are down a slim 0.7%." Inquiring minds want to know...
It looks like the email version shows last year's data and the web version has this year's data. I'm not sure why last year's version made it to your inbox and this year's version made it to the web.
Thank you! That makes sense -- actually quite useful to have the trend data. Colleges pushed back pretty hard on textbook cost over the last year, but the biggest pushback in my world of Community Colleges is high schools refusing to allow the CCs that teach their Dual Credit students to use commercial textbooks -- only Open Stax or other no- or very low-cost texts, and the expansion to high school Dual Credit is a big area of growth for CCs.
I should add that our library does a big OER push each year and has sent emails to students telling them that they should demand that their faculty switch over to OER. You can imagine how that went over!
I'm glad you said something because I would have NEVER noticed it. For obvious reasons, I don't read the email versions of the articles once I hit publish.
Who even writes this substack
How’d you do that “tap to interact” feature with the datawrapper charts? How foes it work / appear for email?
Under the publish and embed section, you can publish the visualization to get a hyperlink to your visualization. I just copy and paste that into Substack, and it generates the interactive charts.
Unfortunately, the maps are hit or miss on whether Substack will turn them into the interactive version.
If you make updates to the chart, it doesn't automatically update the post even if you republish on datawrapper since it has a form of version control on the link.
I forgot to add that they look a little grainy on the email version.
> the individual items filling a kid’s lunchbox: animal crackers are up 15.7%, sliced ham and turkey are each up at least 12%, and applesauce packets are up 6.9%
Pffffffft my kids would eat nothing but beef jerky and drink nothing but grain alcohol and rainwater. Good thing I'm saving 15% year-over-year (and probably a prison term) by not having kids at all!