# Last edited on 2021-01-05 19:57:26 by jstolfi

Poking around the US Consumer Price Index (CPI) data.

OBTAINING THE DATA

  Downloaded some files from from "https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/cu/"
  
  Saved in "00-DATA/raw/"
  
  Main data files are 

    1232927 cu.data.13.USApparel
    5702105 cu.data.11.USFoodBeverage
    
  Each file contains many time series, all mixed.
  
  The first line has column headers. 
  
  Each subsequent line is a data point; fields are separated by tabs.
  The fields are 
  
    "{SERIES_ID} {YEAR} {PERIOD} {VALUE} {FOOTNOTES}"
    
  The period is "M01", "M02", ... "M12" for months. The value is a ratio
  (x 100) relative to the price on some epoch that depends on the
  series.
    
  A description of each series is in the file "cu.series".
  
SEPARATING THE DATA BY SERIES

  do_split_data_files.sh \
    11.USFoodBeverage \
    12.USHousing \
    13.USApparel \
    15.USMedical \
    18.USOtherGoodsAndServices
    
Plotting some monthly series:

  Common title:
    "in U.S. city average, all urban consumers, not seasonally adjusted"

    plot_monthly_data.sh \
      CUUR0000SEFA02 "Breakfast cereal" \
      CUUR0000SEFB01 "Bread" \
      CUUR0000SEFC03 "Uncooked beef steaks" \
      CUUR0000SEFH   "Eggs" \
      CUUR0000SEFJ01 "Milk"