| Sumario: | The writers present experimental Laspeyres, Paasche, and Fisher price indexes for poor consumers. Requests for indexes for the poor stem from a belief that the movement of relative prices for this group might differ from that of the general population. If poor consumers do face differential price inflation, there may be major implications for governments providing benefits to these consumers and for the general measurement of poverty. Minimal differences have been found between the experimental consumer price indexes for the poor and the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: The poor and the population as a whole have faced similar trends in relative prices during the last several years. Consequently, the level of assistance provided to the poor, as well as poverty rates, would not be expected to have differed had they been calculated with a price index specifically designed to reflect the spending patterns of the poor.
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