[baronswindle]

The way I read it, it’s actually the opposite of what you wrote. You suggested that the Fed relied on inflation numbers that it knew to be too low — i.e. that inflation was understated due to failure to account for substitution effects and the like. In fact, the Boskin commission concluded the opposite — i.e. that inflation figures were overstated in aggregate due to failure to account for things like quality changes and the substitution effect.

[tsimionescu]

No, they suggested it now relies on inflation numbers that it knows to be too low. They said that inflation numbers used to be more realistic, but they have recently been lower than real inflation that consumers experience.