The press is reporting record prices for beef. According to a June 18 story in the New York Post,
“It’s a barbecue-season bummer! Meat, poultry and fish prices have spiked an average of 8 percent since last year — soaring to an all-time high, national data show. The cost of ground beef has gone up 11 percent… ‘Everything is going through the roof,’ said Jim Hopkins, 52, a supervisor at Associated Supermarket in the West Village, who has worked in the grocery business for 30 years. ‘I’ve never seen increases like this — where they jump as much as this.’”
Yet the World Bank data shows remarkable stability in the inflation-adjusted price of ground beef over the last half century. That is all the more remarkable considering that:
- There were 3 billion people in the world in 1960. Today there are 7 billion of us.
- In 1960, the average income per person was $3,000 (in inflation adjusted 2000 dollars). Today it is $7,500.
- More people earning more money = higher demand for meat, especially beef.
- Yet, beef prices are, roughly where they were in 1960.
So, cheer up and don’t let those pessimists spoil your barbecue-season.