Google plans price index to track inflation trends

Quoting Google Chief Economist Hal Varian Financial Times said Google Price Index (GPI) was work in progress and the company had not yet decided whether to publish it.

The report noted that the official Consumer Price Index (CPI) data are collected by hand from shops, and only published monthly with a time lag of several weeks.

“... the GPI is not a direct replacement for CPI because the mix of goods that are sold on the web is different to the mix in the wider economy,” Varian said.