Google Inflation

rumour

A break from our domestic woes, this escaped my attention a week or two ago and i'm surprised someone else didn't pick it up. Google are looking to create a tool to measure inflation from the web. Imagine central bankers and governments(politicians) trying to formulate their policies against the instant info. Our DOF would surely be screwed.

For example in Ireland we probably would have been told that inflation was through the roof solely because of property instead of the massaged government figures we were issued with. This could have major impacts on national governments. Now my initial reaction is fantastic from an Irish perspective but this power would reside with a private company. Is it realistic or even naive to believe this would/could even get out of the starting blocks.

Link below:
http://www.google.ie/url?sa=t&source=news&cd=3&ved=0CDgQqQIwAg&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bloomberg.com%2Fnews%2F2010-10-12%2Fgoogle-is-developing-inflation-index-using-web-figures-ft-says.html&ei=xhDUTJKyC4SxhQeVk8ngBA&usg=AFQjCNH8oWZclDLChVjAz4QOYkB4F4j7Qw&sig2=AANuOMEsU4P3IRYTzDzatA

Otherwise simply google 'google inflation' and news.

recedite

Its a political decision as to what goods are in the "basket of goods" the govt officials use as a yardstick. Especially mortgages. It would be informative to compare the official figures to the google ones.

rumour

recedite wrote: »

Its a political decision as to what goods are in the "basket of goods" the govt officials use as a yardstick. Especially mortgages. It would be informative to compare the official figures to the google ones.

Thats generally because of outdated conventions. With readily accessible data it could quite easily become the benchmark.

southsiderosie

I think this is an exciting concept, but the article says their analysis is based on online shopping figures? I'd be a little worried that this approach wouldn't pick up economic activity as effectively in countries like Spain where online shopping is relatively low.

That said, this could be incredibly cool, especially if they offered raw data in a way where you could build your own 'basket' of goods to see how your personal inflation rate is moving against the national one.

I am still holding out hope that someone will do a similar government budget balancer program for the US government (although Ireland could use it as well) as the one somebody put together for California so there could be an honest public debate about just how impossible the fiscal situation is - even if the politicians don't want to. I still don't think the revolution will happen online, but certainly the internet has helped democratize information.

ei.sdraob

southsiderosie wrote: »

I think this is an exciting concept, but the article says their analysis is based on online shopping figures? I'd be a little worried that this approach wouldn't pick up economic activity as effectively in countries like Spain where online shopping is relatively low.

That said, this could be incredibly cool, especially if they offered raw data in a way where you could build your own 'basket' of goods to see how your personal inflation rate is moving against the national one.

I am still holding out hope that someone will do a similar government budget balancer program for the US government (although Ireland could use it as well) as the one somebody put together for California so there could be an honest public debate about just how impossible the fiscal situation is - even if the politicians don't want to. I still don't think the revolution will happen online, but certainly the internet has helped democratize information.

The latest Google phones (like one beside me) have a barcode scanner feature, now if Google can somehow incentivize people to scan products and input prices via an app and maybe pay em...

Anyways Google have a scary amount of data on anything and everything, they will only get better over time.

RichardAnd

This just sounds like Google's latest brainwave from their vastly swelled ego.

southsiderosie

ei.sdraob wrote: »

The latest Google phones (like one beside me) have a barcode scanner feature, now if Google can somehow incentivize people to scan products and input prices via an app and maybe pay em...

Anyways Google have a scary amount of data on anything and everything, they will only get better over time.

Oh, I forgot about the scanning thing - I have a crappy pre-pay phone, so I only get to read about these magical applications.

The scanning system would actually be awesome, especially if they could update local prices in real time. I think a lot of people would do it without being paid; it would be like a giant wiki for prices.

recedite

southsiderosie wrote: »

the one somebody put together for California .

I was able to solve California's problems quite easily with that; I must be a bit of a tyrant
The most obvious ones to me are raising the top income tax rate from 9.3% to 11%, and deporting all the mexican illegals they are holding in jails.

I'm guessing Brian Lenihan has one of these toys already, and has been playing with it a lot recently.