Economics you can use · Module 2 of 2
Checking it yourself
How to read money news, check a claim yourself, and understand a central bank rate decision.
Key terms in Checking it yourself
- Consumer price index (CPI)
The consumer price index, or CPI, is a measure of the average change over time in the prices consumers pay for a representative basket of goods and services. In the United States the Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes it monthly. The index is the most widely cited gauge of inflation, though the agency notes it is not a complete cost-of-living measure.
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Price Index (CPI) Frequently Asked Questions
- Unemployment rate
The unemployment rate is the number of unemployed people expressed as a percentage of the labor force. In the United States a person counts as unemployed when they have no job, have actively looked for work in the past four weeks, and are available to start. The figure comes from a monthly household survey, not from counting benefit claims.
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, How the Government Measures Unemployment
- Seasonal adjustment
Seasonal adjustment is a statistical technique that removes the effects of predictable seasonal patterns from data so underlying changes are easier to see. Weather, holidays, harvests and the school calendar all cause regular yearly swings in employment and prices. Many economic figures are reported in both adjusted and unadjusted form for that reason.
- Central bank
A central bank is the public institution that manages a country’s currency, money supply and interest rates. Examples include the U.S. Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank. Most modern central banks set a short-term policy rate and aim to keep prices stable while supporting employment, and many are given a degree of independence from elected governments.
Source: International Monetary Fund, Monetary Policy: Stabilizing Prices and Output
Every term on Lever is in the money glossary.
About this module
Checking it yourself is part of Economics you can use, one of 15 subjects in Lever. It’s a short run of 5 lessons, about 13 minutes in all, so you can finish it in one sitting.
Every lesson takes one idea at a time. You read it with the math worked out step by step, answer a question that puts it to use, then see why the right answer is right and why the others aren’t.
It’s for anyone who was never taught this, and you don’t need to know anything first. Every lesson is free. Lever works out what you already know, so you can start here or let your path bring you to it.
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