I am on this page https://centromueble.com.ve/product-category/mas-vendidos/ Looking at furniture prices and things like that, I just can't understand why a table costs $600. I always ask myself the same question: am I really poor, and that's why it seems expensive? Or are these prices ridiculous?
They don't even give you a fancy product description with fancy phrases to make something so basic seem more interesting; just the photo, price, and payment. It doesn't even say what kind of wood it is. I don't know what to think.
pull down to refresh
related posts
I've since Covid felt that there's been quite some continuing inflation on "luxury items" like furniture even when its design properties are mediocre at best. FRED agrees with me, but where it feels to me like things did overall at least a 2x, the graph indicates that I am wrong about that and it's "only" 25%.
Only after you buy it!
When I lived in Peru, I noticed the same thing but with various items, including food. On the street, I saw an increase of, for example, 40%, and the graphs said the increase was 15%.
That store I showed is from Venezuela, and I did some research and that little bedroom table is made of MDF and covered in melamine; they're not even selling anything made of a special type of wood. Unbelievable.
One of the ~econ -native smart people addressed this a while back but I cannot for the life of me remember what the concept is called when the people seem to experience inflation much heavier than what the official numbers state. Nor can I find it. Probably @Undisciplined or @denlillaapan knows and/or was the source of this wisdom.
I actually don't know what that's called. I'd love to find out.
Okay okay I stop being lazy.
This June 2026 paper calls it "the perceived inflation wedge". It's not what I remember reading and search gives nothing, but it at least tries to measure the thing I point to.
Maybe the bots are rubbing off on me and I hallucinated that I saw this discussed here.
me neither... some version of/exaggerated money illusion...? I'm really not sure.
When I want to refer to that idea, I usually say "actual real price increase" and most Bitcoiners/hard-money types know what I mean, roughly.