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Episode 222: The Price of Lettuce In Brooklyn - Planet Money

On today's Planet Money, we go shopping with George Minichiello.

George is one of hundreds of federal employees who goes to stores all over the country and record the prices of thousands of different things. A bag of romaine lettuce. A boy's size-14 collared shirt made of 97 percent cotton. A loaf of white bread.

Their work drives the consumer price index, a key economic indicator known to its friends as CPI. The index measures inflation in the U.S., and it influences everything from Social Security checks to the price of school lunches to how big your raise will be next year.

Money Consumer Price Index (CPI)