"I used to have Pho here after every CS club meeting. Wait… I swear it was $13, not $16".
That's a bit frustrating. Right?
This process is how the government tracks the Consumer Price Index. They send a few hundred people to call stores around the city to ask for the price of groceries/toothpaste.
This method has worked well for the last century, but not so much when people buy things online.
That's why I think governments should use computers to track CPI in real-time since:
- They'll have granularity in their measurements.
- What are the prices of goods in between towns/Neighbourhoods?
- They can lower their measurement error by gathering more data points.
- They can set interest rates using real-time data
This data could also reveal:
- How do natural disasters affect prices
- How often do people change their prices
- What prompts people to change prices
But how might it work? I think you can create an MVP by scrapping Walmart or NoFrill's website. Perhaps you can also partner with bargain hunting companies like Flipp or Honey since they digitize the price of goods.
This index probably wouldn't just be helpful for governments, though; Wall Street would love to have these signals. They probably already built CPI-tracking bots.
Anyway, I hope you all are doing well, and that recruiting / exams aren't too scary. Everything will all work out in the end, and it always does, even if it doesn't feel like so right now.
I hope you have a wonderful week and are enjoying the summer!
- Curtis
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