Cost of living
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Cost of living is the cost of maintaining a certain standard of living. Changes in the cost of living over time can be operationalized in a cost-of-living index. Cost of living calculations are also used to compare the cost of maintaining a certain standard of living in different geographic areas. Differences in cost of living between locations can be measured in terms of purchasing power parity rates. A sharp rise in the cost of living can trigger a cost of living crisis where purchasing power is lost and the previous lifestyle is no longer affordable.
Definition
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Cost of living is the cost of maintaining a certain standard of living. Changes in the cost of living over time can be operationalized in a cost-of-living index. Cost of living calculations can be used to compare the cost of maintaining a certain standard of living in different geographic areas. Differences in cost of living between locations can be measured in terms of purchasing power parity rates.
Cost-of-living adjustment (COLA)
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Employment contracts and pension benefits can be tied to a cost-of-living index, typically to the consumer price index (CPI). A COLA adjusts salaries based on changes in a cost-of-living index. Salaries are typically adjusted annually. They may also be tied to a cost-of-living index that varies by geographic location if the employee moves. In this latter case, the expatriate employee will likely see only the discretionary income part of their salary indexed by a differential CPI between the new and old employment locations, leaving the non-discretionary part of the salary (e.g., mortgage payments, insurance, car payments) unmodified.
Annual escalation clauses in employment contracts can specify retroactive or future percentage increases in worker pay which are not tied to any index. These negotiated increases in pay are colloquially referred to as cost-of-living adjustments or cost-of-living increases because of their similarity to increases tied to externally determined indexes. The cost-of-living allowance is equal to the nominal interest minus the real interest rate.
Consumer Price Index (CPI)
When cost-of-living adjustments, negotiated wage settlements and budgetary increases exceed CPI, media reports frequently compare the two without consideration of the pertinent tax code. However, CPI is based on the retail pricing of a basket of goods and services. Most purchases of that same basket require the use of after-tax dollars—dollars that were often subject to the highest marginal tax rate. Consequently, the COLA will necessarily have to exceed the CPI inflation rate to maintain purchasing power.[1]
The widely recognized problem known as bracket creep can also occur in countries where the marginal tax brackets themselves are not indexed — COLA increases simply place more dollars into higher tax rate brackets. Only under a flat tax system would a percentage gain on gross income translate into a comparable inflation-offsetting gain at the after-tax level.
Some salaries and pensions in the United States with a COLA include:
- Social Security
- Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS)[2]
- Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS)[2]
Pensions in Canada with a COLA include:
Social security benefits
United States
Social security benefits in the United States receive cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) to match increases in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W). They can also receive funds from public charities for specific issues. The COLAs are made at most annually and are calculated based on the value of the CPI-W in the third quarter of the year (averaging the values from July, August, and September). COLAs can only increase benefits, so in deflationary years when the CPI-W drops there is no COLA.[3]
Worldwide survey
The Economist Intelligence Unit produces a semi-annual (twice yearly) worldwide cost of living survey that compares more than 400 individual prices across 160 products and services. They include food, drink, clothing, household supplies and personal care items, home rents, transport, utility bills, private schools, domestic help and recreational costs.
The survey itself is an internet tool designed to calculate cost-of-living allowances and build compensation packages for corporate executives maintaining a western lifestyle. The survey incorporates easy-to-understand comparative cost of living indices between cities. The survey allows city-to-city comparisons, but for the purpose of this report all cities are compared to a base city of New York City, which has an index set at 100. The survey has been carried out for more than 30 years.
The most recent survey was published in March 2017. Singapore remains the most expensive city in the world for the fourth year running, in a rare occurrence where the entire top five most expensive cities were unchanged from the year prior.[4] Sydney and Melbourne have both cemented their positions as top-ten staples, with Sydney becoming the fifth most expensive, and Melbourne becoming the sixth. Asia is home to more than five most expensive cities in the top twenty but also home to eight cheapest cities of the cheapest ten.
Rising cost of living
Larry Summers estimated in 2007 that the lower 80% of families were receiving $664 billion less income than they would be with a 1979 income distribution, or approximately $7,000 per family.[5] Not receiving this income may have led many families to increase their debt burden, a significant factor in the 2007–2009 subprime mortgage crisis, as highly leveraged homeowners suffered a much larger reduction in their net worth during the crisis. Further, since lower income families tend to spend relatively more of their income than higher income families, shifting more of the income to wealthier families may slow economic growth.[6][specify]
The 2022 World Inequality Report, a four-year research project organized by the economists Lucas Chancel, Thomas Piketty, Emmanuel Saez, and Gabriel Zucman, shows that "the world is marked by a very high level of income inequality and an extreme level of wealth inequality".[7] According to the report, the bottom half of the population owns 2% of global wealth, while the top 10% owns 76% of it. The top 1% owns 38%.[8][9]
See also
- ACCRA Cost of Living Index
- Cost of living in Namibia
- Cost of Living Allowance (U.S. Military)
- Consumer Price Index
- Inflation
- List of U.S. states by adjusted per capita personal income
- List of most expensive cities for expatriate employees
- Precariat
- Price index
References
- ^ "CPI Home : U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics". www.bls.gov. Retrieved September 30, 2019.
- ^ a b Flanagan, Tammy (September 8, 2006). "COLA Wars". National Journal Group. Archived from the original on October 5, 2008. Retrieved September 23, 2008.
- ^ "Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) Information". Social Security. Social Security Administration. Retrieved August 11, 2021.
- ^ "Singapore Maintains Top Spot as World's Costliest City". Bloomberg. March 3, 2015.
- ^ Larry Summers. "Harness market forces to share prosperity". Retrieved September 21, 2015.
- ^ Mian, Atif; Sufi, Amir (2014). House of Debt. University of Chicago. ISBN 978-0-226-08194-6.
- ^ Elliott, Larry (December 7, 2021). "Global inequality 'as marked as it was at peak of western imperialism'". The Guardian. Retrieved December 8, 2021.
- ^ Kaplan, Juliana; Kiersz, Andy (December 7, 2021). "A huge study of 20 years of global wealth demolishes the myth of 'trickle-down' and shows the rich are taking most of the gains for themselves". Business Insider. Retrieved December 8, 2021.
- ^ "World Inequality Report 2022". Retrieved December 8, 2021.
External links
- Economist Intelligence Unit worldwide cost of living survey results (requires registration)
- Cost-of-Living Calculator relative to time from American Institute for Economic Research (AIER)
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