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Worked Examples · Example 3
Q.

A household spends on four items as shown below. The base-year (2020) and current-year (2024) prices are given, along with the percentage of the household's total budget spent on each item in the base year (its weight WW). Compute the Cost of Living Index for 2024.

Itemp0p_0 (Rs.)p1p_1 (Rs.)Weight WW (%)
Food506540
Clothing405020
Fuel304215
Housing10013025
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The Family Budget Method first computes each item's own price relative, I=p1p0×100I=\dfrac{p_1}{p_0}\times100:

IFood=6550×100=130,IClothing=5040×100=125I_{\text{Food}}=\dfrac{65}{50}\times100=130, \qquad I_{\text{Clothing}}=\dfrac{50}{40}\times100=125

IFuel=4230×100=140,IHousing=130100×100=130I_{\text{Fuel}}=\dfrac{42}{30}\times100=140, \qquad I_{\text{Housing}}=\dfrac{130}{100}\times100=130

Next, multiply each item's price relative II by its own budget weight WW:

130(40)=5200,125(20)=2500,140(15)=2100,130(25)=3250130(40)=5200,\quad 125(20)=2500,\quad 140(15)=2100,\quad 130(25)=3250

ΣIW=5200+2500+2100+3250=13050\Sigma IW = 5200+2500+2100+3250=13050

The weights already sum to ΣW=40+20+15+25=100\Sigma W = 40+20+15+25=100. Substituting into the Cost of Living Index formula:

CLI=ΣIWΣW=13050100=130.5CLI=\dfrac{\Sigma IW}{\Sigma W}=\dfrac{13050}{100}=130.5 …

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