Post a Comment Print Share on Facebook

Life is really getting more and more expensive?

headlines about rising Rents are commonplace, and since 2008, health insurance premiums have risen by almost 50 percent. Nevertheless, the Federal office for st

- 26 reads.

Life is really getting more and more expensive?

headlines about rising Rents are commonplace, and since 2008, health insurance premiums have risen by almost 50 percent. Nevertheless, the Federal office for statistics (BFS) reports since the financial crisis ten years ago, always the Same: The prices in Switzerland are stagnating or even in decline minimal. How can that be?

to do This, you must understand how the Federal government defines the price level: It is defined as a shopping cart, which should represent the whole of the consumer of an "average household". It includes about 250 products and services of everyday life. Are captured every year, the prices of these Goods. The changes of the prices in this cart over the years, should the price reflect.

However, no household consumes exactly the standard shopping cart. Depending on the individual consumer, there can be big differences. For example, the price demonstrates that mobility has become in the last ten years, slightly cheaper (minus 7 percent). A household that moves exclusively with the public TRANSPORT, however, have a price increase of a good 20 percent in the last ten years to be noticed, while in the same period of the individualised private transport was a good 12 percent cheaper. The Federal statistical office provides an online tool with which inflation can be a self-made cart to calculate.

The price development also shows a halving of the prices for mobile phones. How can that be, but the current iPhone is the most expensive that ever came on the market? Here, the quality effect needs to be taken into account: If you compare a device of today, with an average ten years ago, you can see that today's devices are much more powerful, or of high quality. So you get more for the same price. You would limit yourself today when you purchase on the technology of ten years ago, you could actually benefit from the price reduction. A similar development is seen in all of the technical devices, which develop a constant, for example, TV devices (Smart TV, 4K resolution), or cars (additional technical equipment such as an Airbag or air-conditioning for the same price).

Although the price level remained for a good ten years of virtually constant (at least for the hypothetical household with the BFS-cart), can afford to the people since then, since the wage level has increased in the same time.

The composition of the basket is reviewed every year and revised if necessary, to the current use behaviour of the households. That this is necessary, reveals a look at the history of the shopping cart: the Shoe repair (split in heel, sole and top) was in 1966, a private, non-negligible part of the basket. Pencils were also listed separately and accounted for a share of 1.5 per Mille of the annual budget. What has, however, completely missing, for example expenses for the training.

The weightings of the individual budget items have changed. Were spent in 1966, 30 per cent of the budget for food, it's 2018, only 10 percent. 20 percent of the budget can be used for any other expenses incurred. The proportion for Housing and energy is about 30 percent relatively constant and is now, as then, the largest Item in the household budget. Most health care has increased.

for most of the household budget is very important health insurance premium is, surprisingly, not part of this basket of goods. Instead, the various services and products of health care are listed, all of which are driving the price development. The Reasoning behind this is that the premiums for the insurance in case of illness flow back to the households. Here again, The individual products and services in the health care has become cheaper, but it's more be taken. The reasons for this are complex, but in particular the aging of society and growing demands on the medical System play an important role. This is reflected ultimately in increased premiums.

The Federal office for statistics has, therefore, quite right when it says that the prices have not changed in the last ten years. At the same time wages have risen. If one adapts to but steadily to the higher standard of living, you realize of which may be insufficient. In particular, the health insurance premiums fall into the weight. Low-income earners, they now make up on average almost every sixth Swiss francs of income. And public TRANSPORT users will be asked each year to the Fund. Also: This week, it was announced that the prices have risen in the year 2018 to 0.9 per cent, as strong as in the past ten years. So maybe it's gone with the stagnant prices. (Editorial Tamedia)

Created: 10.01.2019, at 18:22

Avatar
Your Name
Post a Comment
Characters Left:
Your comment has been forwarded to the administrator for approval.×
Warning! Will constitute a criminal offense, illegal, threatening, offensive, insulting and swearing, derogatory, defamatory, vulgar, pornographic, indecent, personality rights, damaging or similar nature in the nature of all kinds of financial content, legal, criminal and administrative responsibility for the content of the sender member / members are belong.