Old Money Comparison

PTH2009

sorry if this is the wrong section for this

does anyone have a value sheet of the old pounds compared to the Euro prices today ???

£1 back in say the 1970's would be what € now ??? etc

Peregrinus

PTH2009 wrote: »

sorry if this is the wrong section for this

does anyone have a value sheet of the old pounds compared to the Euro prices today ???

£1 back in say the 1970's would be what € now ??? etc

Since there was galloping inflation throughout much of the 1970s, it crucially depends on when in the 1970s you want the data for. A pound in 1971 would buy a lot more than a pound in 1979.

In terms of comparing the value of currency over time, you also need to think carefully about how you value currency. For example, if you're looking at wage rates, you could reason like this: A worker on average wage has to work X minutes to earn €100. €100 euros = £78.74. How long would a worker on average wage in (say) 1975 have to work to earn £78.74?

But people mostly compare purchasing power. What would £100 buy in 1975? How much would it cost to buy the same stuff now? You can use the consumer price index, published by the Central Statistics Office, to make comparisons of this kind. It measures the cost of a typical basket of consumer goods each month, and has data going back to January 1922.

The CSO provides a handy online calculator here. Suppose you want to find out what £100 in April 1975 is worth in today's money. We know that £100 is equal to €127. So we put in a "from" date of April 1975, a "to" date of March 2020 and an amount of €127, and we click on the "calculate" button. And the answer is that, the basket of consumer goods that you could buy with £100 in 1975 would today cost €8,932.98.

Note that this is quite specific. If you're concerned with what kind of house you could rent or buy for a given amount in 1975 as compared with today, looking at the consumer price index won't tell you the answer to that. Similarly it won't compare what earnings over time, or the cost of quite specific goods - cars, say.

PTH2009

Would £15-£20 years ago would be like spending say €50-€60 on a night out ?

Peregrinus

Depends on how many years ago.

Esel

Price of a pint, loaf of bread, Big Mac, soldiers pay etc. Compare these.