A lot of voters think prices are falling – and that should worry Rishi Sunak
An occupational hazard for politicians is having their remarks misrepresented by newspaper headline writers. Yesterday’s Daily Express front page offers a humdinger of an example. Reporting on Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s reaction to inflation falling, the paper’s splash declares, ‘Prices Must Drop Now Inflation Has Fallen‘ (their emphasis).
At best, this is hugely misleading. At worst, it’s a horrible error.
As it's the Daily Express it could be either. Or both.
The rate of increase in prices, in other words, has been falling. But just as decelerating in a car moving forwards isn’t the same as it going in reverse, falling inflation doesn’t mean prices are going down; nor is there any reason why they ‘must’ fall as a result of falling inflation in future.
Somebody internalising this headline, and front page, would surely think otherwise. And this is worrying because, as last week’s report from the National Institute of Social and Economic Research showed, a lot of the public confuse falling inflation with falling prices.
Their survey asked people about the phrase ‘the inflation rate has fallen from 10.1% to 6.1%’. Only 44% of the public correctly identified that this meant ‘prices are still rising, but now they are only rising by 6.1%’. A huge 36% of the public thought this meant prices had fallen (most by 4%). This sort of headline risks compounding this error.
Somebody internalising this headline, and front page, would surely think otherwise. And this is worrying because, as last week’s report from the National Institute of Social and Economic Research showed, a lot of the public confuse falling inflation with falling prices.
Their survey asked people about the phrase ‘the inflation rate has fallen from 10.1% to 6.1%’. Only 44% of the public correctly identified that this meant ‘prices are still rising, but now they are only rising by 6.1%’. A huge 36% of the public thought this meant prices had fallen (most by 4%). This sort of headline risks compounding this error.
3 comments:
“Must a name mean something?” Alice asks Humpty Dumpty, only to get this answer: “When I use a word… it means just what I choose it to mean – neither more nor less.”
Another consequence of modern educational methods, I expect.
DJ - I'm thinking of reading Alice as a reminder of such quotes.
Peter - I've long thought that a basic understanding of such concepts should be taught in schools as part of a maths syllabus. Compound interest, that kind of thing.
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