Index Numbers of the Total Cost of Living

I. The use of index numbers of cost of living stimulated by war conditions, 241. - II. Food prices and cost of living may diverge, 243. — III. A fixed collection of commodities and services forms the basis, 244. — IV. The methods of "proportional" and of "aggregate" expenditure, 246. — The proportional method gives a more correct arithmetical result, 250. — The aggregate method more easily understood, 250. — V. Considerations important in the index number for food, 252. — VI. Index numbers for other groups of articles, 256. — VII. American index numbers are fitted to localities, English are not, 259. — Concluding criticism: the methods of constructing index numbers not adequately explained, 262.