Prices & Inflation

A blog post from BEA Director Vipin Arora

An old boss of mine was fond of a BEA product that many of our users don’t know about—regional price parities (RPPs). He said regional price parities are BEA’s most underappreciated statistic. While I love all our products equally—just like I love all my kids equally—I can’t help but agree that the RPPs are a gem that sometimes gets overlooked. I hope you won’t overlook the new RPP data coming Thursday, Dec. 12.

BEA's economic modeling tool that helps users analyze how a proposed project would ripple through a region's economy is now updated with new benchmark data.

State and local governments, civic leaders, planners, investors, and others use the tool to assess the economic impact of projects or events within their selected area. For example, building an apartment complex would require buying building materials from local retailers and wholesalers, leasing equipment, and hiring tradespeople. Employees of these and other local businesses would have additional wages to spend, perhaps on household needs or recreation.

Personal income increased $87.6 billion (0.4 percent at a monthly rate) in August. Disposable personal income (DPI)—personal income less personal current taxes— increased $46.6 billion (0.2 percent). Personal outlays—the sum of personal consumption expenditures (PCE), personal interest payments, and personal current transfer payments—increased $86.0 billion (0.4 percent) and consumer spending increased $83.6 billion (0.4 percent). Personal saving was $794.1 billion and the personal saving rate—personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income—was 3.9 percent in August.

For the first time, the Bureau of Economic Analysis will produce its benchmark updates of the nation’s gross domestic product and related industry and state statistics within the same timeframe. The updates will begin with initial results Sept. 28 and 29.

Personal income increased $69.5 billion (0.3 percent at a monthly rate) in June. Disposable personal income (DPI)—personal income less personal current taxes— increased $67.5 billion (0.3 percent). Personal outlays—the sum of personal consumption expenditures, personal interest payments, and personal current transfer payments—increased $109.4 billion (0.6 percent) and consumer spending increased $100.4 billion (0.5 percent). Personal saving was $862.4 billion and the personal saving rate—personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income—was 4.3 percent in June.

Personal income increased $78.9 billion, or 0.4 percent at a monthly rate, while consumer spending increased $113.0 billion, or 0.6 percent, in September. The increase in personal income primarily reflected increases in compensation and personal income receipts on assets. The personal saving rate (that is, personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income) was 3.1 percent in September, compared with 3.4 percent in August.

Personal income decreased $3.21 trillion, or 13.1 percent at a monthly rate, while consumer spending increased $80.3 billion, or 0.5 percent, in April. Economic impact payments established by the American Rescue Plan Act, declined sharply in April. In addition to presenting estimates for April 2021, these highlights provide comparisons to February 2020, the last month before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. For more information, see Federal Recovery Programs and BEA Statistics.

Interested in comparing buying power in your metropolitan area to another? Then, you’ll want to look at the Bureau of Economic Analysis’ latest batch of regional price indexes.

Some highlights from BEA’s recent news release, featuring our 2017 Regional Price Parities: