working papers "What is the Cost of Living?" - Reference Budgets

educational institutions, by public authorities in
order to determine the level of social security, or
in financial and debt counselling in the planning
and monitoring of the clients’ subsistence. Furthermore,
ordinary citizens can use such information
for personal financial management purposes.
Review of the prices and updating of the content
of commodity baskets in order to ensure upto-date
information is closely related to usability of
reference budgets. However, the arduousness of the
method makes it difficult to update the commodity
baskets and check the contents, so it cannot
be repeated too frequently. Updating the prices is
easier than checking the content, since the former
can be done by taking advantage of consumer price
indices and other price surveys.
The consumer-oriented method has produced
material for more extensive reflection on the opportunities
to bring consumption within more moderate
boundaries for economic or ecological reasons,
or on a voluntary basis, for instance, by seeking a
more peaceful lifestyle. Application of a sustainable
development perspective in consumer choices for
reference budgets would provide additional information
on changes in consumption habits, which
is a topical issue in the debate surrounding climate
change.
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