Image source: Pixabay

But convergence in the East North Central portion of the Midwest is slower. Follow up to this post.

Figure 1: CPI – food at home nationwide (bold blue), ERS forecast of February (light blue square), Midwest B/C cities (tan), East North Central (green). Midwest and East North Central series seasonally adjusted using X-13. NBER defined peak-to-trough recession dates shaded gray. Source: BLS, ERS, and author’s calculations.

Food at home prices have risen faster than the CPI overall, both nationwide and in the MIdwest. However, the convergence has proceeded faster nationwide (mostly my overall CPI rising faster).

Figure 2:  Log ratio of CPI – food at home to overall CPI nationwide  (bold blue), for East North Central (green). East North Central series seasonally adjusted using X-13. NBER defined peak-to-trough recession dates shaded gray. Source: BLS and author’s calculations.

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