Weekly Updates
Weekly Updates
- UK consumer price inflation in May remained at 8.7% y/y. Several sectors added to inflation. Some of this is due to rigid pricing structures, or calculation methods; mobile phone tariffs are inflation-linked, and when customers switch providers to pay less, the lower price is not recorded in the data.
- One potential source of inflation is the popular music artist Beyoncé. May 2023 will be recorded in economic history as the UK dates of Beyoncé’s World Renaissance Tour. Ticket prices went as high as GBP 170 per person.
- Beyoncé did not tour the UK in April. So how can a change in ticket prices be calculated to record inflation? Beyoncé’s ticket price is compared to the price of whatever concerts took place in April. The artists who performed may not be of the same calibre as Beyoncé, and command lower prices. Thus, the price increase reflects an increase in the quality of the entertainment, but is recorded as a like-for-like price increase.
- Does this matter? Concert tickets are not a major component of consumer prices. However, the (subjective) quality of music artists emphasises how difficult it is to calculate a “clean” price increase. And for UK inflation, the pressures may persist. Harry Styles’ Love on Tour played in the UK in June.
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